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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27987666">Raid Boss: Bad timing</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dEBB987/pseuds/dEBB987'>dEBB987</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Raid Boss series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Overlord - Maruyama Kugane &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Gen, Misunderstandings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:48:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,946</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27987666</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dEBB987/pseuds/dEBB987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after "Farewell" in Raid Boss. An AU in which Harry arrived at the New World 5 years before Nazarick and Momonga did... and when they meet, they don't recognize each other.</p>
<p>Alternative summaries as placed in the comments by readers:</p>
<p>"A series of Misinformed events"</p>
<p>"Awww, poor all of them, so angry over Harry's perceived death that they want to... kill Harry."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Raid Boss series [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>64</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>174</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. New World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 1 New World</strong>
</p>
<p>He had… really died.</p>
<p>He mentally sighed, as darkness consumed him fully. One moment he had been in the Throne room with Momonga and the NPCs, waiting for the clock to reach midnight, for Yggdrasil to disappear, and the next… well, Harry had really ceased to exist in that reality.</p>
<p>To be honest, he had been hopelessly wishing that something would happen. That the end wouldn’t really be, that perhaps…</p>
<p>Well, nothing but wishful thinking, apparently. At least it was painless and fast, just like a good old Killing Curse would have been, which meant that he wouldn’t be in this dark limbo for too long.</p>
<p>As if summoned by that small, positive thought, Harry was finally transported to whatever random world would be his new home, darkness slowly dissipating as his surroundings started to gain shape, lights, and colors.</p>
<p>He had a sense of deja-vu as he eyed the green clearance. Hadn’t he arrived in a similar place in Yggdrasil? It was bright and peaceful, birds chirping merrily and harmless grass hugging his lying form. With a cloudless blue sky right above him, it was the perfect picture of a good day.</p>
<p>Harry sighed as the familiar tingle of exhaustion traveled over suddenly sore muscles. World-traveling always made him feel tired and — <em>wait a minute.</em></p>
<p>Abruptly sitting down, he rolled his shoulders experimentally, surprised to feel the usual lethargy fade away as if it never was. He could feel his magical core latching at the magic on his environment, making up for the loss the travel to a new world always caused.</p>
<p>This is what had happened when he first arrived at Yggdrasil, back then.</p>
<p>Harry quickly stood up, examining this new environment with renewed interest. He didn’t recognize the place, but the magic surrounding him was as vast as the one that had been present in Yggdrasil.</p>
<p>Looking down at himself, he was happily surprised to discover that his robe was exactly the same one he had been wearing back in the Throne room. Usually, after world-traveling, Harry would always wake up wearing something that could be considered “usual” in the new world. For example, if the world’s inhabitants had nothing but brown dresses then he would wake up wearing one. It was Death’s way of helping Harry blend in with his surroundings, a small help that had kept him from getting into trouble as soon as he arrived.</p>
<p>He had stumbled upon cultures that considered any sort of white clothing blasphemous, some that didn’t really have the same spectrum of colors, some that used rigid materials instead of soft ones, some that had tattooed symbols cover the body instead of any kind of material; that sort of thing. So, for him to still be wearing Yggdrasil’s clothes…</p>
<p>It must mean that this world is similar.</p>
<p>Harry grinned. May be this wouldn’t be so bad then. It would be nice to be able to adapt quickly, for once, and maybe he wouldn’t need to perform so many experiments in this one if he could still use the results he had gathered in his previous life! If he and Jarvis—</p>
<p>…ah.</p>
<p>Right, his NPC wasn’t… here. Nor was Momonga, or Jald, or anyone. He was alone.</p>
<p>Harry’s excitement died down, a heavy weight sitting in his stomach as nostalgia and sadness consumed him. They had been together for such a short time, just a little more than a decade, and there was just so much potential there left uncovered…</p>
<p>Harry had wanted to discover how he was able to live in a “videogame”. He had wanted to convince Jald to present him a few other MOB creatures he was in good terms with. He had wanted to continue to hunt with Momonga until the overlord was finally willing to accept new people into their guild, accepting the fact that their old friends weren’t coming back. He had wanted to witness the NPCs moving and talking on their own accord, they had been so, so <em>close</em> to that on the last day!</p>
<p>Harry smiled sadly to himself, shaking his head negatively as if to dispel those thoughts. There was nothing he could do to change things. At least he had been able to bid farewell to everyone, let them know he appreciated—</p>
<p>
  <em>Shit. Oh no, no, no!</em>
</p>
<p>He didn’t visit Pandora!</p>
<p>He was supposed to go to the Treasury right after the 9<sup>th</sup> floor, but Jarvis hadn’t been at his post, so he had gotten sidetracked and gone to the 10<sup>th</sup> to try to find him, and then Herohero had arrived and <em>shit</em>, it totally slipped his mind—</p>
<p>The first words Harry uttered in the new world were nothing but a cacophony of curses, which scared off the birds that had been chirping nearby.</p>
<p>So much for a good start.</p>
<p>(X)</p>
<p>Five years down the road, Harry wasn’t any closer to understanding what the bloody hell had happened.</p>
<p>This world had Yggdrasil’s spells, items, races, and skills. Harry had access to his freaking inventory— which had nothing but data crystals since the rest was in his bag— and he was pretty sure the Eight Greed Kings and the Evil Deities had been <em>players</em>.</p>
<p>Actually, there were traces of players here and there, scattered among items, legends, religions, and spells. According to what he had learned so far, most of these perhaps-players hadn’t cared much about the destruction of the countries around them, so Harry was quite surprised by the fact that he had woken up in a continent that still had human nations.</p>
<p>…which were a bloody mess, but at least they still managed to survive, despite being at a major disadvantage in terms of physical strength, skills, and longevity. In his head, Harry silently gave them brownie points for that.</p>
<p>The Re-estize Kingdom was collapsing from the inside, not only because it was divided in an absurd “Nobles vs Royalty” unspoken war, but mostly because its corruption was much too engrained in too many key places. No matter how Harry looked at it, that Nation was destined to fall, and the annual fights with the Empire were only quickening the process.</p>
<p>Speaking of, the Empire had gone through a very bloody “<em>cleansing</em>” of nobles and high-up positions close to the Imperial family, and it seemed to be evolving in too many areas much too fast— although it seemed for the better? Only time would tell.</p>
<p>The Theocracy were a bunch of higher-than-thou individuals that pretty much hated anything that wasn’t human — what they were doing to the dark elves honestly made Harry cringe, although it wasn’t like their own Elf king was any better — and acted accordingly to exterminate those it considered threatening for the human race. Which meant, well, <em>all</em> demi-humans and heteromorphs. It was race-discrimination at its finest.</p>
<p>And lastly, the Roble Holy Kingdom was just <em>this side</em> of painfully moral people… the kind that would sacrifice a thousand lives to save a single child, because it was “the right thing to do”. Harry wasn’t a fan of “the greater good” phrase, but <em>damn</em>, even he knew better.</p>
<p>In summary, he wasn’t the biggest fan of the human nations.</p>
<p>Thus, Harry had decided to learn about this world in his own terms, keeping an alliance — if it could be called that — with several different tribes, no matter their races.</p>
<p>The first alliance he made was with the demi-humans that inhabited the Abelion hills, which was the place he had woken up at. It consisted mostly in an exchange of food for information, and they helped him draw a comparison on their cultures versus the human ones. Besides, it was close to the Holy Kingdom, so whenever Harry needed to purchase something, or gather information on how humanity was doing, all he had to do was infiltrate the country’s Great Wall and chat with whoever was amiable enough — or drunk enough — to talk with a total stranger in a bar.</p>
<p>Most importantly though, the Abelion Alliance helped him make a network of sorts. Demi-humans migrated, quite frequently, depending on the weather, the mating season, the cultural ceremonies, the hunting trips… they covered quite a lot of ground, which helped him get wind of rumors or gossip regarding any powerful individuals that were around.</p>
<p>Harry was hoping that, sometime in the future, Momonga may land in this world too. He didn’t let his hopes get too high, considering the timing between players appearing seemed to be on the “every 200 years” scale— but hey, Harry wasn’t going to die before this world did. He should be able to cross paths with him again at some point down the road.</p>
<p>So far, his investigation on “strong individuals” was disappointing, considering this new world had a very different view on what it considered strong. Gazef Stronoff wasn’t. Fluder wasn’t. The vampire Landfall— no, she was going by Evileye — wasn’t. The Theocracy’s scriptures were better, but nothing particularly noteworthy. The Dragon Lords probably were on the 90’s at least, but… yeah, he wasn’t particularly interested in dragons, he was searching for an overlord.</p>
<p>Knowing Momonga, he would be cautious and stick to human and demi-human nations as he tried to comprehend what the hell had happened. He would probably parade as human, thus, that was exactly what he was searching for.</p>
<p>It would probably take a while though, if it ever happened. So, in the meantime, he had decided to—</p>
<p>“Harry-sama?” A male voice interrupted his line of thought, and Harry sighed and turned to look at the source begrudgingly.</p>
<p>“I’ve told you; drop the title. What’s up, Vijar?” Harry reprimanded not for the first time. He had —accidentally — united the different races of demi-humans in the Abelion hills under his leadership, and they had gone and decided to add fancy titles to his name when addressing him. Nothing he did or said could convince them to drop it, much to his exasperation.</p>
<p>The male demi-human lowered his gaze to the ground and growled. Vijar was from the Zoastia race, his upper body resembled that of a light-grey, furred saber-tooth tiger, so the sounds he made were often a mix of growls, hisses, and purrs.</p>
<p>“Nothing good,” Vijar replied somberly, upper lip curling to reveal sharp teeth. He seemed to be trying to stop himself from angrily hissing the words, “a few more have disappeared.”</p>
<p>Harry inwardly groaned.</p>
<p>He had taken a small trip to explore the Azerlisia Mountains — the dwarves he found there were great, actually — and had been away for several months, having returned to the hills just recently and, honestly, why did such a thing happen as soon as he left the hills?</p>
<p><em>Something</em> had begun kidnapping demi-humans left and right. Whoever was behind it didn’t seem to have any preference for race, gender, or age, so they had been unable to anticipate the attacks or defend themselves on their own.</p>
<p>It wasn’t like these races of demi-humans mourned their dead though. They were quite apathic on the whole affair, so Harry didn’t feel particularly bad for their loss. The only reason the matter had been brought up to him was because the number of kidnappings was too large to ignore, and it was starting to affect their overall strength as a group.</p>
<p>“Damn… alright, do you know how many? And which race?”</p>
<p>“Around three snakemen, five zoastia, and eight bafolk.”</p>
<p>
  <em>All in a single attack?</em>
</p>
<p>“That many? And nobody noticed?” Harry couldn’t help but ask, which earned him a growl from Vijar.</p>
<p>“Whoever is taking them must specialize in stealth. No screams, no signs of an attack or any kind of struggle, they just suddenly <em>disappear</em>.”</p>
<p>“Ah, I’m… sorry to hear that,” Harry nodded somberly, but Vijar only grunted in response. The male had come seeking help, not ‘<em>useless sentiment’</em> as they called it. Harry internally sighed and continued, “I’ll place some recognition wards around— um, that is, magic that will let me know if anything of another race trespasses the territory. I’ll catch them next time and interrogate them to reach the root cause. Can you ask the other representatives to not leave the designated area?” Harry requested while passing a hand through his hair, unconsciously ruffling it. He wouldn’t notice the kidnappings if they occurred out of the ward’s range, after all.</p>
<p>Vijar let out a disgruntled hiss — he always did that when Harry tried to explain his magic, he supposed it was meant to denote confusion? — looking at him grimly before nodding his agreement and turning to leave.</p>
<p>Kind of rude, leaving without another word, but Vijar was still among the most tolerable representatives.</p>
<p>There was a representative for each race of the demi-human alliance, but Harry rarely bothered to meet with them. There were some races that were kind of barbaric, so he didn’t really approach them if it wasn’t completely necessary. Ugh, the things some of them did was… no. Just no. Better ignore their presence for the most part.</p>
<p>Honestly, Harry was seriously considering making the Dwarf Kingdom his new main base. The dwarves were great, had a unique job class called Runic Blacksmith that hadn’t existed in Yggdrasil, were good sources of information, had decent alcoholic drinks, and most importantly: <em>didn’t have humans in their diet</em>. Not like the demi-human alliance had hunted any people since Harry’s arrival, and not all of them made him feel uncomfortable, but <em>still</em>. It was the principle of the thing.</p>
<p>And really, what would happen if he left? He could still come by from time to time to get some info and, subsequently, extend his established network. And sure, the Holy Kingdom would start to be attacked again by the demi-humans once he left, but they had defended themselves just fine with the Great Wall before.</p>
<p>Yeah, decided. As soon as this whole kidnapping issue was resolved, he was going to leave.</p>
<p>(x)</p>
<p>A couple of weeks after Harry’s return to the hills, a few creatures — the life signature was that of shadow demons — trespassed his wards.</p>
<p>No wonder they couldn’t do anything to defend themselves. The demons were level 30 — which was considered strong in this world — and were not only stealthy, but also immune to low-level physical attacks. Even if the demi-humans had somehow managed to locate them, they wouldn’t have been able to stop the kidnappings.</p>
<p>There were three… four? Only four. Alright, this should be quick enough.</p>
<p>Harry summoned the elder wand, waving it over his head to change his appearance, so he had short, straight blond hair, blue eyes, a rounder face, and freckles. He changed his voice to a different pitch, humming to himself to double-check it was alright before waving at his clothes, changing the outer design of his robes so it still had the same high-stats but didn’t look like it usually did.</p>
<p>After all, whoever was ordering the shadow demons was, most likely, a demon too, and those tended to have very long lifespans. Harry would rather not gain any unnecessary enemies from this small endeavor, but if that was inevitable, then at least they wouldn’t know what he usually looked like.</p>
<p>Preparations done, Harry pointed his wand to the ground, focused on the slithering presence of the shadow demons, and casted a silent <em>Inmobilus</em>.</p>
<p>The four entities were frozen at once.</p>
<p>When enemies were within his wards range, Harry could transfer his magic to several individuals at once, distance and quantity rendered irrelevant. Within his territory, it would be accurate to say that any battle was over before it even started, really.</p>
<p>Locating the one closest to him, Harry turned on his heel and apparated right over the frozen shadow demon, the wand’s tip still pointing to the ground.</p>
<p><em>Imperio</em>.</p>
<p>Harry silently ordered it to come out. It was as if something two dimensional had gained a third dimension, as the humanoid figure with bat wings stretched from the ground, sharp claws curling harmlessly at its sides. The figure was pitch black, as if created from darkness itself, the only patch of color being the glowing yellow eyes.</p>
<p>It was the first time Harry encountered one of these in this new world, but the creature really seemed to be the same as the one from Yggdrasil.</p>
<p>Meeting the yellow gaze of the creature, Harry used legilimency to navigate through its memories. He needed to find out about the number of demons, their boss, if the taken demi-humans were still alive, and if yes, then where they were being kept? What was the reason for taken them in the first place?</p>
<p>A few minutes later Harry inwardly cursed, frustrated.</p>
<p>The shadow demon didn’t know <em>shit</em>. It didn’t have any lasting memories, as if it had spawned just this morning, and his instructions were to “take four Abelion sheep and bring them to the farm,” but there was no picture of how the farm looked like or where it was located, as if the shadow demon had never been there before.</p>
<p>Hell, the bloody thing didn’t even know who it reported to. The shadow demon simply labeled them as the “summoner”, and apparently hadn’t bothered to look directly at them, not even once. All Harry could see in its memory was the place where it was first summoned, some sort of forest.</p>
<p>And nothing else.</p>
<p>“Useless piece of— <em>ugh</em>. I really didn’t want to do this,” Harry complained under his breath, massaging the bridge of his nose. Playing victim was troublesome and time consuming, but it seemed like he didn’t have much of a choice.</p>
<p>If its instruction was to take any creature from the Abelion hills, then kidnapping a “human” among demi-humans was probably still within the order’s criteria. Harry just needed to make himself look weaker, to fit in.</p>
<p>He took a deep breath, trying to call in his magical aura. Lower, lower… no, he probably still had the presence of a Level 60 thing. Ugh, come on, just a bit more… was Level 30 too much? What if these shadow demons were the strongest summons of… whoever the boss was?</p>
<p>Actually, that would be good. If Harry was perceived as strong — but not too strong as to be invincible — then they would have to try to either outnumber him or have the demon boss personally take care of him.</p>
<p>Yeah, parading as a Level 30-ish human should work.</p>
<p>Casting an <em>Obliviate</em> to the ground so the four demons would forget they were ever frozen, he released them from his immobilizing curse, and allowed the still mind-controlled demon to wrap him in as one of its victims.</p>
<p>
  <em>Follow your original orders.</em>
</p>
<p>The Imperio-ed shadow demon moved to catch another three beings, while Harry made himself comfortable in the space within. It was dark, warm, and surprisingly cozy, so much so that he was mildly tempted to take a nap. Harry had no way of knowing anyone low-level would suffer in agony while being kept inside a shadow demon, dark tendrils clawing at the prisoner’s soul.</p>
<p>Blissfully unaffected, Harry hummed and closed his eyes. He still had his ring equipped, so sleep and food were unnecessary, but he liked to indulge from time to time. Right now wasn’t prudent but, perhaps after this whole business was wrapped up, Harry would keep a single shadow demon around so he could use it to take naps in the future.</p>
<p>Wriggling to get more comfortable, Harry let out a satisfied sigh as the shadows wrapped around him like a warm blanket.</p>
<p>At least something good would come from this bothersome task.</p>
<p>(X)</p>
<p>Demiurge listened attentively to the report of the Evil Lord Wrath.</p>
<p>One of the shadow demons that had been sent to gather more, ah, <em>Abelion</em> <em>sheep</em>, for the production of scrolls wasn’t responding to the summoner’s mental link. The other three seemed unaffected, replying to small inquiries without issue, but the fourth was oddly unable to. The link seemed to be partially severed.</p>
<p>Could this be some sort of incomplete brainwashing? Considering the ones that brainwashed Shalltear were still out there; it wasn’t impossible.  </p>
<p>“Are they still linked to each other?” Demiurge asked after a brief pause, satisfied when he saw Wrath reply affirmatively, “in that case, make them report what they hunted before they’re sent to the farm.”</p>
<p>The Evil Lord nodded, mentally relying the order to his summons.</p>
<p>“The silent one has one human and three Stone Eaters,” Wrath said after a moment of silence, as he received the reports from the still functioning links, “they say the silent one is following at the back. It probably doesn’t know how to reach the farm on its own, now that its link with me is unresponsive.”</p>
<p>Then, the shadow demon was still trying to follow orders, even after the link was disconnected. And a human, of all things? Peculiar. Those stopped going out of the Great Wall after 40 or so people had been taken, finally noticing something was amiss. Demiurge hadn’t really minded, since the scrolls worked the same regardless of whether they used demi-human or human skin, but for one to suddenly be captured…</p>
<p>“A human. Hadn’t the prisoners mentioned one is the leader of their alliance?” It was always the same threat, every time a new Abelion sheep arrived at the farm. Always exclaiming how they were going to regret taking them away, since their leader was <em>oh so very strong</em> and surely would do something about it.</p>
<p>It was obvious their leader had to be stronger than them, since that was the only way to unite such a variety of demi-human tribes without having them rebelling every other week. It had to be someone that could overpower them one-sidedly, completely <em>invincible</em> by their terms.</p>
<p>Among humanity, wisdom and wealth would qualify as a form of strength, but the demi-human races only appreciated raw power. That said, no one in those hills surpassed the Level 15, so Demiurge was only mildly curious.</p>
<p>He had been thinking about using that alliance as his own, to accomplish Ainz-sama’s order of creating a “Demon King” character. Attacking the Holy Kingdom would surely be enough to accomplish said feat, and the demi-humans were known for their infamy already. Usurping the leader’s place should be the most efficient way to—</p>
<p>“A human leader? Well, yes, but every time one is questioned the description of said leader changes,” Wrath grumbled, the fire on his wings growing darker and hotter with apparent frustration. Demiurge hummed in agreement.</p>
<p>It couldn’t be helped. In the same way a human would be hard-pressed to distinguish between two orcs, the demi-humans had issues trying to tell apart from two humans, even when they looked completely different from each other. Thus, the description of their leader was different depending on the race’s perception.</p>
<p>The Snakemen would assure that their human leader was very short, almost like a beardless dwarf, while the Stone Eaters would say the human was a bright giant, with so much magic surrounding him that it was impossible not be blinded by it. The centaurs claimed that he was almost as old as time itself, while the Naga stated he was painfully young and full of wonder.</p>
<p>All in all, nothing they said could be trusted. It would have been easier if they had provided any sort of name, but alas, they had some sort of curse on them that made them lose their voice when they tried to utter it.</p>
<p>This wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things, and probably investing his limited time dealing with this rare circumstance was pointless. Still, Demiurge couldn’t afford to ignore the uncertainty. Having a summon brainwashed now of all times was too much of a coincidence, and there was no minimum level required to be able to use a World item. Thus, even if it was weak…</p>
<p>“Send them to Aura’s Fortress instead of the farm, I’ll let her know we’re getting a temporary guest,” Demiurge ordered at last, metallic tail tapping his ankle a couple of times in a pensive manner.</p>
<p>The probability of being Shalltear’s brainwasher was very, very low. Alas, the World Items of the Treasury had disappeared when they left Yggdrasil — a matter that really concerned Ainz-sama, and rightly so — and his orders on the subject were clear.</p>
<p>Be overly cautious, don’t underestimate the opponent. Think the worst-case scenario is the one most likely and prepare accordingly to ensure Nazarick’s safety and growth.</p>
<p>Going to such lengths for this particular case was probably unnecessary, but he couldn’t afford to be caught unaware. If he made a mistake—</p>
<p>No. No, mistakes could not be tolerated. Even more so if one considered the Floor Guardians’ dark record.</p>
<p>Despite having received direct orders; Shalltear and Cocytus had committed mistakes one after the other. If this continued, the abilities of the Guardians and the other members created by the Supreme Beings would be questioned. Of course, his master showed no displeasure at their failures, and Cocytus' in particular seemed to have been part of the plan, but they couldn't continue relying on his goodwill.</p>
<p>Demiurge still wondered if… the Treasury’s mishap could be attributed to Pandora’s Actor. Was that considered a failure as well? He wasn’t sure. Neither Ainz-sama nor Pandora seemed to act like it was, at least.</p>
<p>Alas, that didn’t change what he needed to do— what <em>all the Guardians</em> needed to do. They needed to demonstrate their usefulness by succeeding in their tasks. Was there any use for stupid subordinates who were unable to carry out their duties in a satisfactory way? And if the last of the Supreme Beings were to disappear due to disappointment...</p>
<p>Demiurge froze in fear just thinking about this.</p>
<p>No. Even with something as small as this, failure was not an option.</p>
<p>(X)</p>
<p>That took longer than expected.</p>
<p>Harry’s control over the shadow demon must have been perceived somehow, because he was the only one dropped in the spacious wooden room. Kind of rudimentary, but very well done by this world’s standards, so Harry could tell that whoever had worked on this had seriously made an effort.</p>
<p>He didn’t sense anyone around, other than the shadow demon that had dropped him. The other three — that had been leading Harry’s controlled fiend — had narrowed their eyes at him almost accusingly before scurrying away. The jerks.</p>
<p>Internally sighing, he decided to test the waters, and mentally ordered the controlled shadow demon to return to the hills. The creature’s yellow eyes blinked a few times — acknowledgement, perhaps? — before it tried to slither out to follow his order. <em>Tried</em> being the keyword.</p>
<p>Harry felt it perish as soon as it was out of the room — there went his new favorite nap place, he silently lamented — which was, most likely, due to the summon being dispelled. There was still no one around, so it couldn’t have been killed.</p>
<p>Alright, so a shadow demon wasn’t particularly strong or valuable, if they were disposing of it so fast… then it should be fine to up his levels a bit. Perhaps a 60-ish output would do?</p>
<p>Slowly increasing his magical aura, he stood still and focused on analyzing his surroundings. From what he could see, there were no defensive spells of any kind placed over the building, which meant that this location was little more than a paper house in terms of resistance. Were the demons unable to reinforce this place? Was that the reason Harry was taken here? Perhaps it would be similar to his deal with Jald, and they were seeking protection.</p>
<p>“…anyone there?” Harry asked out loud, receiving nothing but silence. Well, he couldn’t perceive any form of life within the building, but surely they didn’t bring him here just to leave him to his own devices. He could sense information-gathering magic around the room, so he knew he was being observed, but what could be the reasoning behind— <em>woah</em>.</p>
<p>That was a <strong>[Gate]</strong>.</p>
<p>Harry had yet to meet anyone that could use them in this new world, other than himself, which meant— oh, this was going to be <em>good</em>. He had to consciously stop himself from grinning, feeling oddly expectant of whoever was coming to talk with him.</p>
<p>A single Scale Demon — a low-level demon that was roughly three meters tall; the tail resembled a snake, the head a goat skull, and its eyes were beacons of bluish-white fire in empty sockets — walked out of the gate.</p>
<p>…what a way to kill his good mood; they had sent another summon instead of anyone of real substance.</p>
<p>Were those things even capable of speech?</p>
<p>“…hello?”  Harry asked tentatively, watching warily as it slowly opened its jaws.</p>
<p>“State your name and title,” the demon rasped out. Alright, at least it could talk, that’s good.</p>
<p>“Jim. No title,” Harry stated curtly.</p>
<p>He had “characters” with different builds and appearances depending on what he wanted to accomplish. The blond freckled one he looked like right now was named “Jim”, and was the one he used for, mostly, intimidation and — sometimes fierce — info gathering with demi-humans and heteromorphs. It was also his guise for specific activities within human nations.</p>
<p>Harry looked up, trying to make the demon meet his gaze. This one may be intelligent enough to know something about its summoner—</p>
<p>“You’re lying,” the goddamn thing muttered accusingly, raising its gigantic maul to attack, and <em>Merlin</em>, were they serious? Just like that, talking time was over? No attempt at negotiations, or getting info from the other party, no nothing?</p>
<p>No, no, since this was nothing but a summon, that was to be expected. This was probably to test Harry’s strength, to determine if he was dangerous enough to warrant any kind of special attention.</p>
<p>With a soft sigh, Harry summoned his wand, immobilized the hulking creature and sent it crashing belly-first to the floor. Whoever did the building made a good job, since the structure didn’t seem to receive any damage from the impact.</p>
<p>Ok, he could meet its gaze now. Let’s see…</p>
<p>Another summon that only had memories of a single day. Only a few minutes, to be exact, but— well, at least this one actually looked at its bloody summoner before coming here.</p>
<p>An Evil Lord Wrath.</p>
<p>Those were somewhere around level 85, if he recalled correctly. Quite strong by this world’s standards, so it was no wonder that it didn’t feel the need to go out of his way to greet Harry.</p>
<p>“Alright, I’m guessing you have some sort of surveillance in this place. Can whoever is leading this come by to chat? I’d like to avoid needless fighting, if possible,” Harry muttered out loud while lazily destroying the Scale Demon, the blue flames diminishing in its empty eye sockets before it vanished, “I won’t allow any remote observation anymore. You have thirty minutes.”</p>
<p>And with that final message, Harry activated his anti-detection spells, not stopping until he felt the magic around the room crack up like broken glass. That should cause enough of a ruckus.</p>
<p>Thankfully, they didn’t use up the half-hour Harry had given them. As soon as the remote surveillance was interrupted, another <strong>[Gate]</strong> opened, and this time, an Evil Lord Wrath stepped out of it.</p>
<p>Huh, Harry had expected a lower mid-tier demon before getting to meet the big bad boss. Not like he was complaining though.</p>
<p>“Hel—”</p>
<p>“You’re the leader of the demi-human alliance in the Abelion hills,” the demon stated matter-of-factly. Harry huffed lightly at the interruption, but nodded all the same.</p>
<p>“Yeah, I decided to stop by to ask what’s going on. Care to elaborate?” Harry replied curtly. If the demon wasn’t one for pleasantries, then he shouldn’t beat around the bush either.</p>
<p>…damn, he missed Jald. Why couldn’t other demons be as pleasant?</p>
<p>“You’ve been absent for several months,” the Evil Lord said neutrally, slowly circling him like some sort of wary wolf, not acknowledging Harry’s question, “why?”</p>
<p>Harry shrugged, eyes following the demon’s movements, “why are you taking them?”</p>
<p> His senses alerted him of the sudden appearance of several creatures, which were starting to surround the building. He supposed they had opened a <strong>[Gate]</strong> outside.</p>
<p>“There’s value in them,” Wrath admitted almost absentmindedly, “where did you go?”</p>
<p>“Sightseeing. Can we not fight? It won’t end well for your side,” Harry warned with mock sympathy, releasing more magic so his output could match the Evil Lord’s level.</p>
<p>The action made the demon pause, gaze turning wary, movement shifting from analyzing to defensive. Alright, that was good, maybe they really would be able to talk things out.</p>
<p>“What are you?”</p>
<p>“Not an enemy, unless you force me to be.” His output increased once more, so he should be around the 100 level now. It seemed to be the right thing to do, since whatever creatures were outside suddenly stopped moving.</p>
<p>(x)</p>
<p>This was highly enlightening.</p>
<p>The human’s power output had shifted— <em>increased</em>, at an incredible pace. Demiurge hadn’t been aware that such a thing was even possible, but Ainz-sama probably had known, thus the order to treat even the weakest creatures with wariness.</p>
<p>Truly, his Lord was infallible. Demiurge’s respect and admiration for his Master increased even more, something he hadn’t even thought possible. Being able to serve Ainz-sama was, unquestionably, the greatest of honors.</p>
<p>
  <em>…what it would have been like, to receive a direct order from Harry-sama?</em>
</p>
<p>Demiurge felt the familiar pain of loss constrict his lungs, before he forced that line of thought to recede.</p>
<p>No, no, this was not the time to get lost in such reveries.</p>
<p>The human leader, Jim, had increased his power output so it reached a Floor Guardian’s level. This tactic had, most likely, been done with the purpose of intimidating the adversary, which was logical considering the male human was confronting an Evil Lord.</p>
<p>The Evil Lords' were capable of calling forth an army of demons, once per day, and although the quantity was limited, the sub-races of demons it could summon were only restricted level-wise. In simple terms, Wrath could suddenly summon a horde of a few hundred demons, of different sub-races, so long those were of lower level than the Evil Lord itself, and the sum of their levels didn’t surpass a certain amount. In an effort to avoid this scenario, Jim had adopted an intimidating tactic and had clearly stated he didn’t want to fight.</p>
<p>Such was the price of ignorance.</p>
<p>The male human had no way of knowing that summoned monsters couldn’t, in turn, summon more monsters. Therefore, the Evil Lord of Wrath that Demiurge had summoned and sent to Aura’s fortress couldn’t call forward a horde of lesser demons. It was different for the Evil Lords that had been manually created, such as the ones that served under him to protect the 7<sup>th</sup> floor, but Demiurge had seen no reason to endanger the life of a fellow Nazarick denizen when said risk was perfectly avoidable.</p>
<p>Besides, this way, Demiurge could use <strong>[Slave Sight]</strong> on his summon, to see what the Evil Lord could see, and since he was telepathically connected to it Demiurge was easily instructing on how to reply. It was like being there personally, without any of the risks of actually doing so.</p>
<p>“Not an enemy,” Wrath repeated doubtfully, as instructed, “then what is your intent? By allowing yourself to be captured and brought here…”</p>
<p>“Ah, I just wanted to chat, really,” Jim said casually with a small shrug, oddly at ease in the presence of the Evil Lord. The human probably had yet to notice the small army of summons that were surrounding the fortress. “Clarify a few things. Are they still alive?”</p>
<p>“Dead, I’m afraid,” Wrath answered, mockingly apologetic.</p>
<p>Although the demi-humans didn’t care or mourn for each other to the extent humans did, that was only were death was concerned. It would be a different matter if they knew their compatriots were being tortured and repeatedly used for scroll-production and experiments regarding healing magic. Thus, this answer was better to continue to avoid a direct confrontation.</p>
<p>Demiurge wanted to analyze the human’s personality, intelligence, morals… information was power, after all. Once he was satisfied with his findings, he would allow for the situation to escalate into a fight, to judge the opponent’s strength, battle strategies, and search for the presence of World items. That was the most logical course of action under these circumstances.</p>
<p>Jim frowned, looking oddly at the Evil Lord before huffing, “no, I don’t think so. I’ll be more direct, where is the farm? I’ll go and see for myself.”</p>
<p>There was a small change in Demiurge’s posture. Most of his comrades wouldn’t be able to notice just by looking at him, but he had tensed up.</p>
<p>There were absolutely no mentions of the farm outside of Nazarick, not to anyone, except for his occasional reports to Albedo.</p>
<p>Had his <strong>[Messages]</strong> been somehow infiltrated? No, that was unlikely, this whole charade would have been unnecessary if the human had had that kind of intel. But then, what else could… unless?</p>
<p>The shadow demon that had been compromised.</p>
<p> If this human’s skill allowed him to extract knowledge of the creatures he controlled, like Ainz-sama could when he used [<strong>Undead Domination</strong>] over the undead of lower level than him, then that would explain how he knew something as sensitive as the farm’s existence.</p>
<p>Which meant that, if the Evil Lord were to be controlled, the human would gain knowledge about Nazarick’s existence, about Demiurge himself and, most terribly, about the path that the summon had taken to leave <em>from the 7<sup>th</sup> floor to reach the surface</em>.</p>
<p>It would be like giving a map about Nazarick’s structure to the enemy, revealing sensitive information on how to get through avoiding the traps and other defenses.</p>
<p>The risk was too high.</p>
<p>Demiurge immediately vanished his Evil Lord and ordered the others to vanish the summons around the fortress as well. This meant that the enemy was now unsupervised, but it was the only action that could ensure Nazarick’s secrets would not be exposed.</p>
<p>With the drastic change in the situation, Demiurge could no longer act on his own. He had informed Albedo that he would be taking the human to Aura’s fortress, but now he needed to debrief his findings and involve Ainz-sama.</p>
<p>Above everything else, it was imperative for them to gain information on this new wildcard. It would be disastrous if any of his comrades currently out of the Tomb were to be caught unaware by this person.</p>
<p>(x)</p>
<p>
  <em>What the hell.</em>
</p>
<p>Harry blinked incredulously at the empty space where the Evil Lord had used to be.</p>
<p>The one that was supposed to be the big, bad boss… was in reality just another summon? <em>Holy shit. </em>That meant the summoner was at least over 95 in terms of levels.</p>
<p>Was this the work of a bloody Dragon Lord? Was Harry accidentally pissing off one by inquiring about this? He really wasn’t looking for a fight, he just wanted to rescue whoever was still alive and make them promise to leave the Abelion hills alone. That was it.</p>
<p>Damn, he should have trapped the Evil Lord and read its memories, instead of trying to talk his way through. At least that way, he would have known who was the summoner… ugh, too late for that now. The summon was dispelled.</p>
<p>Actually, the ones that had been surrounding the building had suddenly vanished as well. Were they thinking about destroying the whole area? No, why care for the summons’ safety? If anything, those should have stayed to ensure Harry was here to receive whatever attack had been planned.</p>
<p>He couldn’t sense any magic around him, or directed at him. No one in the vicinity. Why the sudden solitude, if they were still unable to use any kind of remote surveillance?</p>
<p>…had they deduced Harry was getting information from the summons?</p>
<p>That would explain what had happened. Still, to deduce that from nothing but his comment about a farm he wasn’t supposed to know about— honestly, what kind of mad genius was behind this?</p>
<p>He had been treating this too lightly.</p>
<p>Accepting his mistake, Harry internally switched to a more serious mindset, and analyzed the information he had gathered so far.</p>
<p>A single individual couldn’t manage a farm, much less one that had, if he recalled correctly, kidnapped several dozen demi-humans already. And that number was only considering those he knew from the Abelion hills, it was likely that the demons were gathering from other locations as well. Considering Harry had met nothing but summons so far, it was probable that those lesser demons were used to work the farm, among other tasks.</p>
<p>If the summoner had become aware of Harry’s ability to gather information from said summons, wouldn’t they be desperate to know his method and its limitations? Otherwise, they may consider — quite accurately — that a single slip would mean their most precious information would be found out. Harry would be able to hunt them down and take care of the issue from the root, at his leisure, on his own terms.</p>
<p>He had shown a level 100 aura. The enemy probably thought they were on even terms, and would, most likely, try to increase their probability of achieving victory by gathering as much information about Harry as they could.</p>
<p>Thus, the Summoner needed to know more about Harry, just like Harry needed to know more about the Summoner.</p>
<p>The solution was simple enough then, Harry just needed to stay put and wait for the inevitable confrontation. After all, he was under no delusion that they were on an even playfield. At risk of sounding arrogant, nothing short of a Raid Boss, World-items, Wild Magic, or a World Enemy would keep him on his toes. Specially since the high-level beings of this world didn’t seem to have much combat experience.</p>
<p>Brute strength, high levels, equipment, and skills weren’t enough to ensure victory. Experience and battle strategy were usually more determining factors, and Harry had plenty to spare.</p>
<p>He should be able to handle whatever they threw at him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AUTHOR NOTE:</p><p>I recently read Overlord’s alternative volume, where Momonga arrives to the new world 200 years before Nazarick does, and wondered… even if for only a short time (to be able to use Overlord characters xD) what would have happened if Harry arrived at the New World before Nazarick and Momonga did?</p><p>The treasury is devoid of the Guild’s World items, since Harry took them thinking the world was going to end. He didn’t want to waste them, having them disappear when he could use them in future lives.</p><p>There are parts of Nazarick that they don’t understand how it works, like Harry’s Room of Requirement and the wards (glitch) that protects the entire Tomb. No one but Momonga can use [Gate] to go outside of Nazarick (he was the only one keyed to the wards to allow so) thus the reason the Evil Lord had to go through the Tomb and reach the surface the old-fashioned way. Using [Gate] it’s possible once outside the Tomb tho.</p><p>Harry suddenly vanished, even though Momonga remained exactly where he had been…</p><p>Unsurprisingly, I wanted to play with the concept. Hence, this small series. Hope you enjoy! Btw, in case you didn’t notice, they’re currently at the end of the Lizardmen saga. </p><p>See ya’ around~ dEBB987</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Misunderstanding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 2 Misunderstanding</strong>
</p><p>Ainz mentally cursed, feeling his non-existent pulse rise with alarm.</p><p>He panicked. The emotional suppression activated and forced him to calm down. Then he panicked again. This was repeated a few times before he was finally calm enough to think something other than: <em>how did it end like this?!</em></p><p>Because, seriously, what the hell happened that made them reach this exact point? There was suddenly an enemy that was of his same level, could control those around him and extract information from them, and had already gotten knowledge about the farm’s existence—</p><p>Could this be the person that brainwashed Shalltear?</p><p>He asked as much out loud. Albedo refuted that theory, but even as she listed off the reasons, Ainz couldn’t fully dismiss the possibility.</p><p>After all, Albedo’s analysis was based on what they knew about how Yggdrasil worked. There was no guarantee that this world worked in the same way. It was entirely possible that the people of this new world could have completely different skills and limitations in these matters.</p><p>It could, also, be the work of a World item. Wasn’t that the most probable scenario? And this dangerous individual was currently alone <em>unsupervised</em> in Aura’s fortress!</p><p>They needed to act, as soon as possible. The more time passed, the more probable it was for Jim to escape and that would be a complete disaster. They couldn’t afford to lose sight of such a dangerous threat, not before they had gathered enough intel at least.</p><p>What if Jim was another player? Even worse, what if he wasn’t alone? What if the man belonged to another Guild? A single slip could mark the beginning of a Guild War between them and Ainz couldn’t be too sure Nazarick would come on top.</p><p>Perhaps he wouldn’t have thought so negatively if the World items hadn’t disappeared from the treasury, but with them gone, only two had remained: The Throne and the red orb Ainz always had equipped under his ribs.</p><p>With only these… their chances of victory if this came down to a Guild War decreased considerably.</p><p>What should he do?</p><p>
  <em>…what would Harry do?</em>
</p><p>The thought made his inexistent stomach clench painfully. His mind went back to that day, when midnight struck and Harry abruptly vanished without even finishing his sentence — they had been reminiscing about how the Throne room came to be — and Momonga had almost suffered a heart attack when Albedo and Jarvis suddenly cried out, almost agonizingly…</p><p>Ainz’s first order had been to desperately search every centimeter of Nazarick, trying to locate Harry. It was only when that didn’t bring any results that he had ordered Shalltear to go outside, clinging to the idea that — maybe, for some reason, — Harry would be just out of the Tomb.</p><p>He hadn’t been.</p><p>Harry had vanished, while the rest of Nazarick had been transported to a place completely different to their own swamp, and the reason remained a mystery. It didn’t make any sense, since they both had stayed until the server shutdown; what made Harry disappear, leaving Ainz alone to run the guild? Wasn’t he dealing with enough already? Hadn’t he suffered enough loss already?</p><p>Why take away from him his only remaining friend?</p><p>Another wave of forced calmness went through him. He internally chastised himself, this was not the time to lament his loss. Mourning wouldn’t take them out of this mess, he needed to think of the best way to deal with this situation.</p><p>Should he ask for the Guardians’ opinion? No, if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to send the most capable person in terms of combat.</p><p>That person was Ainz himself.</p><p>In all honesty, Ainz thought that his ability to adapt to unknown situations was unmatched within the Great Tomb of Nazarick, since he was the only one with combat experience in PvP (Player vs Player) and PK (Player Killer) scenarios.</p><p>Thus, he mentally examined the benefits of going personally to confront someone that may be another player. Obviously, if Ainz as the Guildmaster went in person, it would be a clear sign of his sincerity, just like a company manager personally going to another firm to conduct negotiations. Furthermore, Ainz’s perspective was different from that of his subordinates— who tended to view those outside of Nazarick as inferior forms of life— so going himself was probably the best option if he wanted to negotiate and establish diplomatic relations.</p><p>Plainly stated, the most sensible action would be for Ainz to go alone. However, if Jim really was an enemy player here, it would also be the most foolish move he could make. Ainz would need to have a numerical advantage nearby, bodyguards that could buy him time to ensure he could get away to safety if the situation called for it…</p><p>Still, if this ended in a battle and the enemy had a world item, then there was only one course of action to take. After all, Ainz was the only one that could have one equipped now.</p><p> “A World item won’t affect the holder of another World item. I will go first,” Ainz declared in a tone that didn’t accept any objections, but still hurried to add, “Albedo, you’ll coordinate from here. Nigredo and Pandora will take over remote surveillance and recording, tell Pandora to keep switching spells and skills until one gets through the enemy’s anti-detection magic, he can’t be protected against everything. Demiurge, Jarvis, and anyone else capable of summons will leave the Tomb and work from a safe location, one that can’t be easily spotted. Don’t give the summons any intel that is not strictly necessary. This army will be in standby and is to dive in either if I request it, or if you determine I am in mortal danger. Also, Mare is to cover as many escape routes as possible, from a safe distance—”</p><p>Ainz delivered his orders as clearly and detailed as he could, while mentally choosing his own equipment and battle strategy. He needed to go meet with Jim as soon as he was able, it would be extremely dangerous to give the opposition too much time. If Nazarick assumed a passive stance, the enemy might as well choose the right moment to launch an attack, so it was better for Ainz to take the initiative and make the first step, although…</p><p>Hmph, as expected, this was a dangerous gamble. Still, there was nothing he could do about it.</p><p>Ainz would try to establish diplomatic relations with Jim — extending to his Guild if the man belonged to any — and, well, if that didn’t go as planned and the male launched an attack, Nazarick could use it as casus belli and answer in kind. Whichever the case, the most important thing was to gather information.</p><p>Jim had stated that he didn’t want to fight, so Ainz could only hope that he stayed true to his words.</p><p>(x)</p><p>Deciding to gather intel on where exactly this building was located, Harry apparated out of it.</p><p>The wood structure was huge, easily recognizable even from a long distance. Looking around, he saw some sort of forest… and nothing else in the immediate surroundings. No, that wouldn’t do, this wasn’t enough to locate this place in a map.</p><p>Turning on his heel, he apparated to the top of the, incredibly tall, building. The forest covered most of the visible area, he could see nothing but the variety of trees as they extended with no end on sight— no, wait, wasn’t that a lake?</p><p>It was so far away that it was hard to notice, but now that Harry was focusing on it, he was sure it was a great lake, with a very particular shape. Huh, so this place was near the Great Forest of Tob? There were Trolls, Orcs, Lamia, Goblins, Lizardmen, Frogmen, Snakemen…. yeah, there were quite a few demi-humans here, if he recalled correctly.</p><p>This building was somewhere near the junction of the human borders then, close to the end of the Re-estize Kingdom and the beginning of the Slane Theocracy.</p><p>Well, at least no demi-humans seemed to be around, so there should be no casualties if this really ended up becoming a fight. That was unusually lucky, considering Harry’s shit track record. Momonga had used to tease him about how his poor Luck Stats got them in trouble, and Harry was pretty certain his friend was at least partially correct.</p><p>Harry blamed his shitty luck for how he got discovered in the Empire, really. Merlin, it was such a stupid reason, and it was someone so problematic too…</p><p>Huffing self-mockingly at the memory, Harry nodded to himself — for now satisfied with his analysis on his surroundings — and apparated back to the ground. Now, all he needed to do was wait for—</p><p>“Harry!” A male voice screeched panickily in his head, so suddenly that it made him stop in his tracks, startled.</p><p>“Gondo? What’s going on?!” Harry asked worriedly.</p><p>Gondo was a close friend he had made during his visit to the Dwarf Kingdom, so much so that he had gifted him a Communication Ring. The people of this world were distrustful of the <strong>[Message</strong>] spell, since its misuse had brought down quite a few nations before, so Harry had to be creative whenever he wanted to keep in touch with specific people.</p><p>…even more so after the awful mess that had happened two years ago. Harry had ended up blocking all [<strong>Message</strong>] attempts after that particular event.</p><p>“The Frost Dragons are attacking the place! They’re starting to tear down the— eeaark!” Gondo shrieked, before exclaiming, “IT’S DOWN!!”</p><p><em>Shit</em>.</p><p>Harry had placed basic wards in some key places, but the whole damn mountain was a labyrinth of tunnels. The dragons had most likely found an unprotected spot. Then again, the proximity should have been enough to trigger a ward, to at least alert him, so why hadn’t he felt anything of the sort?</p><p>Harry searched inwardly, trying to discern which line of the spiderweb was the one that connected him with the Dwarf Kingdom. Ugh, he had placed too many wards in too many places over the years, he needed to start anchoring them to runes instead of to himself. He couldn’t keep up; it had reached the point where he was struggling to discern which was for what—</p><p>…huh? There was a place nearby that had a full set of wards. He didn’t recall having placed such complete protections anywhere—</p><p>“HARRY!”</p><p>Shit, now was not the time to investigate. Heck, Harry couldn’t even afford to stay and face whoever had been summoning the demons. The dwarves had absolutely no chance of survival against a bunch of Frost Dragons, and he was pretty sure they wouldn’t be strong enough to bear Resurrection magic if Harry arrived even a few minutes late.</p><p>Inwardly cursing, he took out a self-fulfilling scroll and muttered his message to it, before pinning it to the side of the building in a manner that was easy to spot. Satisfied with his quick work, he turned on his heel and—</p><p>“—[<strong>Dimensional Lock</strong>]—”</p><p>—apparated away to the Dwarf Kingdom with an unintentionally loud <em>Crack</em>! Unaware of the restrictive magic that had been casted in the area precisely to prevent that.</p><p>(x)</p><p>In the end, Ainz hadn’t even been able to meet face to face with the man.</p><p>“He teleported away, even after placing [<strong>Dimensional Lock</strong>]” Ainz repeated unnecessarily, still processing the words; still processing the fact that the enemy had escaped, with only a short note left behind.</p><p>“A-and <strong>[Delay Teleportation</strong>] [<strong>Unfair Duel</strong>] and [<strong>Age Seal</strong>]” Mare sobbed, hands twisting the end of his skirt worriedly.</p><p>If only they still had Depiction of Nature and Society in their possession… that World item would have been able to seal the target into a closed-off space, converting the real world into a painted landscape to prevent the enemy from escaping.</p><p>Ainz wondered, not for the first time, why the World items had disappeared, why Harry would ask Albedo and Aureole Omega to hand over their— no, now was not the time for this.</p><p>“Mare,” Ainz said softly, but the dark elf still flinched, “this is not your fault, you did all you could. This is probably the effect of this world’s magic, one that didn’t exist in Yggdrasil. Something unique to this world— something that man must have learned here.”</p><p>There was no longer any doubt in his mind that Jim was a player. The note he had pinned to the building was a short, “<em>Something came up, gotta leave. Let’s talk later</em>,” but the most important detail was that it was written in <em>Japanese</em>.</p><p>Ainz had no way of knowing that Harry’s self-fulfilling parchment would show its message in a language its first reader could understand, and that it had been written in Japanese since one of Ainz’ summoned Elder Lich had been the one to open it — a measure that was taken in case the scroll was a trap, and contained harmful magic — so, as far as Ainz was concerned, the man had written it in Japanese.</p><p>Mare let out a small, shaky sigh, but still looked ashamed at his own perceived failure. Not wanting the child to dwell on that, Ainz cleared his throat and continued.</p><p>“Rather than focus on this, let’s go over the intel we have managed to gather. Demiurge, you can start,” Ainz said with a slow hand gesture that he had practiced for hours in front of the mirror, until he got it to look regal enough.</p><p>“I hear and obey,” the demonic guardian bowed politely, before starting to list off his findings. After him came the deductions of Albedo, Pandora, Nigredo, Mare, and Jarvis.</p><p>The overall picture wasn’t a good one.</p><p>Jim could garner knowledge from the creatures he took control over. The limitations in terms of how many he could control at the same time, of which levels or races, and just how much knowledge he could get from them were unknown. Jarvis had requested to leave the use of his zerglings as the last resource, in case the domination of a zergling could allow the enemy to infiltrate the hive-like mind link, which would end up reaching the Overmind, Jarvis. Ainz inwardly shuddered at the possibility — why hadn’t he considered that? — and agreed.</p><p>Jim could play with his presence, making himself appear as low-level even when he was not — Demiurge was convinced Ainz had already known that was possible in this world, how had he reached that conclusion?! Was it something he had said? <em>Give me a break! </em>— which allowed Jim to easily slip away from their notice, if they didn’t pay enough attention. After all, why look twice at a passing ant?</p><p>The robes Jim wore where those of a magic caster, and probably were Divine class. Still, without seeing him fight, Ainz wouldn’t say for sure that Jim focused only on sorcery. There were some job classes, like the Magic Knights, that could equip both, robes and armors, be sorcerers and warriors at the same time, although they ended up being unable to specialize in either field. The weapon Demiurge had seen was a simple, very weak-looking wand made of wood that was probably only Relic class or so. He had put it away once the Evil Lord arrived after all… it was probable that he could only use it against low and mid-tier enemies.</p><p>Still, Demiurge had said that the man looked at ease in front of the Level 85 summon, so perhaps he was confident if it was only one foe, but didn’t want to risk fighting against multiple enemies? Or maybe fighting against demons just happened to correspond with Jim’s specialty?</p><p>There were two main types of characters in Yggdrasil. There were those specialized in a particular field, and those whose abilities were evenly distributed. In the first case, even if they obtained information from an enemy, they would have difficulty dealing with it if the information did not correspond to their specialty. In the second case, it was possible that they could deal with their enemies, but due to the uniform distribution of the abilities they possessed, such countermeasures against them wouldn’t be infallible.</p><p>Of course, there could be people like Ainz who knew many spells and who possessed many objects left behind by his comrades, and who were therefore able to adapt to circumstances, or people like Touch Me, with unfairly high skills, but that was the exception to the rule.</p><p>Maybe if Jim’s specialty was only against demons— no, assuming that would be careless of him.</p><p>Jim was human and a fellow player that knew Japanese, but had probably been in this world for much longer that Ainz, since he seemed able to use magic different from the one in Yggdrasil. This was the most important fact. If Ainz could, he would rather be in good terms with him, to gather knowledge without creating unnecessary conflict… but, well, if it couldn’t be helped, then having him interrogated as a prisoner should also work. The important thing was to gather intel and strengthen Nazarick, the methods to achieve that weren’t really relevant.</p><p>Although if Jim was also part of another guild, Ainz couldn’t act carelessly— ugh, they just didn’t have enough information. All they could do now was prepare for the second encounter.</p><p>“Judging by his note, he may intend to go back to Aura’s fortress at a later time. Let’s prepare the area accordingly.” Doing so would be incredibly stupid from Jim’s part, since Ainz could place all sort of traps and defenses in the area, but perhaps the man was confident enough in his non-Yggdrasil magic to overlook such scenario? Or had a World item that may cover for said threat?</p><p>His stomach hurt just by dwelling on the possibilities. The unknown really was terrible. Without understanding that magic’s limitations… it could cost them anything. It could cost them <em>everything</em>. The risk was unmeasurably high, but it was one they had no option but to take, since it would be worse if they were caught unaware later. It was better to do it on their own terms.</p><p>For now, everyone that was outside had been ordered to return. Sebas, Solution, Cocytus, the zerglings that had been lurking around certain areas of the Re-estize Kingdom, the demons that worked in Demiurge’s farm in scroll production, the pets Aura had in the Great Forest of Tob. The only one that wasn’t preparing to come back was—</p><p>“Ainz-sama,” Narberal’s [<strong>Message</strong>] reached him, almost as if he had summoned her with his line of thought.</p><p>He needed to temporarily pause his adventuring mission, at least until Jim was taken care of, one way or another, but he needed to give it a proper closure if he didn’t want his efforts — the network and reputation he had earned — to go to waste. Thus, Ainz had had no option but to leave Nabe in the Inn, to take care of things in his stead until he returned.</p><p>“I can hear you. What is it?”</p><p>“Yes. There is someone requesting an audience with the adventurer Momon,” Narberal stated with no discernable emotion, “the Adventurer’s Guildmaster is acting as intermediary.”</p><p>Ainz internally groaned. If the Guildmaster was interfering, then whoever wanted to talk with Momon was someone very well positioned. Influential. Exactly the kind of contact he would have loved to add to his network, if it was under more favorable circumstances.</p><p>“…what do you know about the requester?” Ainz should take note of that person, so he could properly apologize at a later date for not taking their request.</p><p>Or for taking too long to accomplish their request. Perhaps he could use it as an excuse to have Momon out of town for an extended period of time.</p><p>“Some sort of renown warrior called Jim.”</p><p>Ainz froze. He would have cursed out loud if his emotional suppressor hadn’t activated, but in the end, panic receded and gave space to gut-clenching anxiety.</p><p>“That bastard,” he hissed, drawing the attention of the NPCs in the room, “how did he do it?”</p><p>How had he managed to link the scroll-production farm with the adventurer, Momon? Did this mean he already knew about what linked both parties together? About Ainz Ooal Gown? About the Great Tomb of Nazarick? About his precious NPCs?</p><p>Had they been dancing in the palm of his hand all this time?!</p><p>(x)</p><p>Harry was leaning against a wall in the restaurant-bar that was inside the luxurious Inn, calmly waiting for the adventurer Momon to arrive.</p><p>After the Frost Dragons were taken care of, Harry had stayed to diligently work on stronger wards — this time linked to the surroundings with runes, instead of to himself — that could manage to cover a wider area. Hopefully there were no blind spots this time around, and the Dwarf Kindom would stay nice and safe. He needed to put stronger ones once he had more time to do so.</p><p>Once that was done, Harry had decided to go back to the Abelion Hills, to remove his current wards and repeat the process of placing a new set with runes. He had yet to confront the Summoner of demons, and the last thing he needed was having the demi-human alliance wiped out for his carelessness.</p><p>It was just as Harry placed the last ward that one of the Centaur’s Bards had made an off-handed comment about a new adamantite adventurer, someone he had heard about in his last travel.</p><p>Someone going by <em>Momon</em>.</p><p>Momonga had never been particularly good with names. The guild name “Heteromorphic Zoo” still made Harry inwardly snort, whenever he recalled that particular memory.</p><p>Then again, Harry was probably just jumping to conclusions. After all, he had only been five years here, and players weren’t supposed to arrive in between such short year-gaps. Every two centuries was the norm, from what he had gathered, so the possibility of this being Momonga was low. It was, most likely, just an unfortunate coincidence.</p><p>Still, it was one he had decided to look into before reassuming his dealings with the Summoner of demons. After all, adamantite adventurers weren’t known to stay put in a single place, so it was better if Harry got him before the dark warrior left E-Rantel.</p><p>Besides, his “Jim” character was the one he used when acting as a Worker — people like adventurers but that weren’t officially enrolled in the Guild — so he already had the right visage. He only had had to change out of his robes, equipping a golden armor and grabbing his weapon, a lance that also served as a magical staff of sorts.</p><p>His “Jim” lancer guise had been the first character Harry had fucked up. Having just arrived to this new world, the lance had earned him a lot of unwanted attention — how was he supposed to know Divine class weapons weren’t common? — and he had gotten a lot of proposals of all kinds — and he really meant <em>all kinds</em> — as the Re-estize Kingdom tried his damnedest to anchor him to the nation.</p><p>In the end, Harry had been able to bullshit his way to freedom, and the events after that mess were surprisingly fortunate, so he had chosen to keep the character instead of inventing a new one.</p><p>Still, lesson learned, he chose a low-tiered armor to compliment his lancer guise instead of anything that would call for even more attention. People already thought Harry had some country’s treasure as a weapon, there was no need to add more to the list.</p><p>Thus, with the lance tied to his metal-covered back, Harry analyzed the few people gathered in the bar, entertaining himself by trying to determine their respective professions. No one dared to approach him, although a young boy with short, bowl-cut blonde hair that covered half his face kept stealing glances at him, in a way that wasn’t particularly discrete.</p><p>The kid was dressed in ragged work clothes that Harry recognized were used for potion making, so his profession wasn’t difficult to guess. Harry nodded at him, ignored the embarrassed “eak!” and moved over to analyze other patrons.</p><p>Around an hour later, just when Harry was starting to consider leaving, heavy armored steps resounded from the bar’s entrance. A warrior dressed in a black, full-body armor entered his field of vision, the adamantite plate tinkling softly with the movement.</p><p>Momon was alone — wasn’t he supposed to have a female teammate? — and his movements were stiff, hands closing into fists for short moments before relaxing again. He was wearing a helmet, so Harry couldn’t see any expressions, but he got the feeling that the adventurer was seriously bothered about something.</p><p>“You must be Jim,” a deep, baritone voice — that didn’t sound anything like Momonga — greeted him with an incensed undertone. Yap, something must have seriously pissed off the bloke.</p><p>The voice was different, and Momonga wasn’t the kind of person that would make another wait for a whole hour, and then not apologize for making them wait. His friend was overly polite with everyone, always trying to avoid unnecessary conflicts. Reserved and paranoid, he wouldn’t go around with a bad attitude making needless enemies…</p><p>No, Momon really couldn’t be. Harry felt stupid for getting his hopes up.</p><p>“Correct. Nice to meet you, Momon,” Harry said with a light nod and a polite smile. Neither gesture was returned by the warrior in front of him.</p><p>“Where did you get that?” the adventurer asked instead, making a hand gesture towards his lance.</p><p>Harry internally huffed. Momon wasn’t the first to inquire, but it was bothersome to explain the full cover story each time, so he tried to shrug the matter off.</p><p>“Found it in a land far away— or, well, more like <em>earned</em> it. It’s rightfully mine, if that’s your concern,” Harry summarized simply with a lazy gesture.</p><p> The worst kind of people — that believed could get away with it — tended to try to dig for information on where he ‘found’ his weapon, and then try to claim it was, somehow, an heirloom of their family or of their country, insisting Harry ought to hand it over. It was an old dance he didn’t feel like doing, so it was better to keep things short and vague.</p><p>For a second, Harry could swear he felt killing intent emanating from Momon, but it was gone before he could fully register it.</p><p>“I see,” Momon said simply, fists clenching — <em>what the hell was wrong with this bloke?</em> — before the man untensed again, “it seems I have made an unnecessary question.”</p><p>“No— uh, no problem,” Harry replied to the unapologetic statement, momentarily at loss of what to say. Yikes, no way this was Momonga, that much was certain… which meant it was time to improvise a request. Clearing his throat in a vain attempt to dispel the obvious animosity, he continued, “and, uh, thanks for coming to hear my request. I just wanted to—”</p><p>“Wait,” the dark warrior interrupted him, and Harry was momentarily tempted to kick him in the shins, “not here. Let’s go.”</p><p>As if that was supposed to explain everything, the adventurer turned and started to walk out of the Inn. Harry sighed exasperatedly, but still jogged to catch up, asking, “where to?” with the tone of someone that wanted nothing more than to go back home already.</p><p>“A larger area of course. You must know, I won’t accept the request without testing your strength first,” Momon said as if such a thing was obvious, and Harry threw him his best ‘<em>excuse you, what the hell’ </em>look.</p><p>“Is that… so. Guess I’ll be taking back my request then,” Harry muttered uneasily, not understanding shit and not wanting to try anymore. He had already confirmed this person wasn’t Momonga, there was no need to keep up appearances at this point.</p><p>Momon abruptly stopped in his tracks, so Harry had to move to avoid bumping into him. In an instant, the warrior turned to look at him, still emitting a dangerous aura, and—</p><p>“I insist,” Momon replied with steel determination, placing a hand on his shoulder in a gesture that somehow managed to feel threatening, “it’s not every day that I can have a <em>friendly spar</em> with someone on my level, after all.”</p><p>…oh.</p><p>So that was it? Momon was used to having the spotlight in terms of strength and felt the need to prove himself against Harry? That was childishly stupid!</p><p>Harry wanted to decline. He still needed to go confront the Summoner, and then he needed to go checkup the place that somehow had Harry’s most powerful wards, enjoying a full protection. He didn’t have time for this nonsense.</p><p>Momon’s gloved hand squeezed his shoulder, denting the low-level armor.</p><p>…on the other hand, Momon was the kind of person he really couldn’t get along with, and knocking him down a peg or two shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes. It would also serve as an outlet for the disappointment of not finding Momonga.</p><p>“Well, since you asked so <em>nicely</em>,” Harry agreed with a strained, thin smile.</p><p>They stared each other down for a small eternity. It was on.</p><p>(x)</p><p>That’s not yours. That’s Harry’s. <strong>That’s not yours.</strong></p><p>Ainz's anger had erupted the second he saw the familiar lance in hands of someone that was definitely not its rightful owner. He had taken one look at it from a distance, a little more than an hour ago, and stepped away instead of going into the Inn.</p><p>He had Narberal use [<strong>Message</strong>] to instruct Nfirea to go in his stead, to make sure the man didn’t leave the Inn while Ainz prepared himself for battle and the NPCs arranged the pre-selected area.</p><p>
  <em>…that lance.</em>
</p><p>Every time he thought about it, he got more and more furious. Although the feeling had been suppressed in an instant like all his intense emotions, the murderous rage still had spiked up frequently during the whole conversation with Jim, so much so that it had been a miracle that he didn’t end up throwing his careful plan off the window and attacked him on the spot.</p><p>Harry would never leave his main weapon behind; something must have happened to him. Harry, if he— if he fought and lost, if he was— if Jim or anyone had done <em>anything</em> to him—</p><p>
  <em>I earned it. It’s rightfully mine.</em>
</p><p>IT’S NOT. GIVE IT BACK. <strong>GIVE HARRY BACK.</strong></p><p>His emotional suppression activated three times consecutively, and even then, he could feel a calm, cold fury crawling right under his nonexistent skin.</p><p>Any hopes of avoiding conflict, of avoiding a potential Guild War went down the drain. He would have this son of a banshee imprisoned and tortured until he spilled what had happened to his friend, if it was the last thing Ainz did.</p><p>He was fighting for Harry’s sake now.</p><p>Barely managing to contain his bloodlust, Ainz continued to stride forward.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AUTHOR NOTE:</p><p>They both think they have everything figured out and are not happy with their findings. My, oh my~</p><p>Not gonna lie, writing misunderstandings is fun as heck, I now understand why Maruyama (Overlord’s author) does this to Ainz all the time. The way things develop in a manner that is both, incredibly lucky and at the same time terribly condemning is G R E A T.</p><p>Hope you liked it! Happy reading, dEBB987.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Rage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 3 Rage</strong>
</p><p>He felt useless. He <em>was</em> useless. A failure that only continued to prove he couldn’t fulfill his function— oh, why hadn’t his creator ended such a miserable existence? Was it a punishment for his misdoings? If so, it was accurately cruel, in the way he most definitely deserved.</p><p>“Pandora… what is wrong?” Jarvis asked not for the first time, concern almost physically dripping from his words. The zerg Area Guardian — the one he was closest to — always asked him that same question every time he visited the Treasury; the only place where they both could drop all pretenses.</p><p>Pandora was good— no, it would be more accurate to say he <em>excelled</em> at keeping up appearances. It was part of being an actor after all. Thus, whenever he interacted with the other denizens, he acted just like he was meant to: charismatic, eccentric, energetic, and undeniably <em>likeable</em>. He had managed to captivate, one way or another, anyone he crossed paths with! Sure, they sometimes didn’t act like it — the common maids being the most prominent example of such behavior, especially after he called them terms like Mausi* (little mouse) or Bienchen** (little bee) — but that was probably an attempt to camouflage their true feelings!</p><p>Really, Pandora couldn’t quite understand how Jarvis had managed to discover he was faking his cheerful attitude. No one else had succeeded in seeing past his façade, no one else had kept poking at his defenses until they got to see the emotional turmoil that Pandora kept caged inside his heart.</p><p>He didn’t deserve the support of such a great person, one that acted as healing balm to his shattered soul. If Pandora was truthful with himself, he should atone for his failure by having the worst punishment imposed over him: that of complete isolation.</p><p>He really couldn’t think of anything worse. He felt he would be able to endure any other kind of torture, except for that one, which was… odd, in itself. Pandora had always been alone in the Treasury when the Tomb was still in Yggdrasil and he hadn’t felt anything wrong with it. But the moment they were transported here, when he discovered he could actually leave his assigned area and meet the others? Having company was quickly addictive, in a way.</p><p>He couldn’t think of anything worse than being abandoned, left behind by his fellow guildmembers. Being left alone in a place that he considered his home would be—</p><p>“Pandora? Hey…” Jarvis muttered softly, using the end of his wing to poke at his shoulder. The action almost made the military jacket fall off, but Pandora was quick to reposition it. He rearranged his cap as well, a nervous tick he had developed after arriving to this world and discovering Harry-sama was no longer within Nazarick’s halls. It made him feel closer to the absent Supreme Being, a small source of comfort.</p><p>Jarvis looked concernedly at him, having caught the action. They were sitting in front of each other, in the sofas that adorned the Treasury’s “reception” area, so they weren’t close enough for Jarvis to reach out to him with anything other than the long skeletal wings.</p><p>The zerg poked him again, this time at his knee. Pandora silently played with his cap again. The other knew Pandora only did that when he was feeling… well, no good. Another unasked question hung in the air between them.</p><p>“Schmusekater* (cuddlecat), I just don’t understand. How can you still… even after everything?” Pandora whispered, lowering his head to gaze at the tiled floor as if it held all the answers.</p><p>That sentence was vague. Pandora could be referring to anything, but Jarvis knew him well enough to understand what he really meant, even if he was unable to express it out loud.</p><p>“The… world items,” Jarvis muttered tentatively, leaning forward until he rested his forearms over bent knees. Pandora choked on thin air, and nodded furiously.</p><p>“Ja! Don’t you see? Protecting them was what I was created for, but even then, they disappeared! No trace, no alarms—” he exclaimed agitatedly, moving his arms wildly to emphasize each sentence, to the point where his jacket almost fell off his shoulders again, “—all of them! <em>Gone</em>!”</p><p>It was no wonder Harry-sama hadn’t visited him, hadn’t bothered with a farewell the same way he did with the rest of Nazarick. Every time said topic came up Pandora felt a stab to the heart; hearing the others talk about his last message, how proud he had been of them, how warm the light had been—</p><p>Pandora hadn’t been deserving of his Master’s kindness since he had failed in the one task he couldn’t afford to fail. <em>Useless, useless, </em>what good was he for, if—</p><p>He was taken out of the depressive spiral by another poke — this time harder — and aimed to his ribs. Pandora scoffed, curling to his side to protect his torso from further proving.</p><p>Jarvis didn’t say anything. Instead, the zerg simply tilted his head to the side, seemingly contemplative as the silence stretched over them. Pandora deflated, had the other realized he was undeserving, after all?</p><p>“I… may have a theory,” Jarvis muttered at last with a hesitant tone, one clawed hand rubbing the back of his neck.</p><p>That single sentence was enough to make Pandora’s posture straighten up military-like, as he turned to face the Overmind with shocked disbelief. Jarvis knew better than to joke with this, surely?</p><p>“About the world items disappearance?! But— if you did, why not mention it to Ainz-sama from the very beginning? He was—!” Pandora exclaimed, abruptly standing up from the Treasury’s sofa. He took in a breath to continue, but paused when Jarvis sighed shakily and lifted his head to look at him.</p><p>His gaze was glassed over with unshed tears. “Pandora… my creator, Sir is— <em>was</em>, he used to be—” Jarvis started to say before choking down a sob, the emotional wound still too fresh.</p><p>Oh no.</p><p>Pandora crossed the distance with long strides, making a shooing motion so the zerg scooped over to make space for him to sit down at his side. Jarvis tearfully snorted but complied, wings pressing close to his back even as his body continued to silently shake with barely-controlled grief. Pandora raised a hand, long fingers curling around Jarvis’ shoulders to give a comforting squeeze.</p><p>How did it feel like, losing one’s creator?</p><p>That was a question Pandora hoped he would never get the answer to.</p><p>“I— my apologies,” Jarvis muttered sincerely, finally calming down a bit, “what I wanted to say… is that Sir is— <em>was</em>— he was… very unique. His room’s design is proof of it.”</p><p>So far, only Jarvis had been able to operate that odd changing room, Pandora being the second-best suited. With anyone else, it didn’t even work— the room showing an unchanged, impersonalized chamber that seemed to be its default when one failed to channel the right shifting magic.</p><p>Ainz-sama said there was nothing like that in Yggdrasil, but Jarvis confirmed it had always been able to do that, even before Nazarick was transported to this place. No one knew what to make of it.</p><p>Jarvis had also mentioned some experiments that generally took place in that ever-changing room — where he had helped his creator with different tasks — but since the final findings were always drawn by Harry-sama, the zerg wasn’t sure what, exactly, they had managed or failed to discover. Still, the glimpses he <em>did</em> have had been useful to improve the art of potion making, something that seemed to make Ainz-sama feel both: relief at effortlessly gaining new knowledge and confusion about how his fellow Supreme Being could have discovered as much.</p><p>All in all, Harry-sama’s past doings remained mostly in the dark, a mystery they weren’t sure they would ever be able to uncover. </p><p>“Ja, I don’t deny that. Harry-sama was always a special one… I was one of the last to be made, but the others have mentioned that he talked with them from the very beginning? Ah, sorry, is that not… I mean, what do you mean by this?” Pandora finished lamely, removing his arm when Jarvis shifted uneasily.</p><p>The zerg seemed to be carefully choosing the words, to determine the best way to phrase his thoughts. His expression seemed almost… guilty.</p><p>“I just… I think I heard him mention, how he was preparing to face the end of the world— even if I failed to recognize it as such back at the time. I just thought it was a special trip… I was <em>stupid</em>— no, that’s not the point,” Jarvis chastised himself. Passing a hand over his face, he took a deep breath and continued, “in the last few weeks, before the transition, Sir had me harvesting certain ingredients, while he focused on gathering— um, <em>items</em>.”</p><p>Jarvis stressed the last word, giving him a meaningful look. Pandora forced himself to swallow the sudden weight in his throat.</p><p>“Do you… believe…”</p><p>“Sir may have…. taken the World items of the treasury, at some point. Perhaps Sir disappeared, along with them, in a way to ensure Nazarick would not? Sir had strong Martyr job classes, if I recall correctly… perhaps their c-combined sa-sacrifice would enable us to— to <em>live on</em>—”</p><p>Jarvis was uncapable of continuing that train of thought, words dying as he lowered his head in defeat, but he didn’t need to say anything more. His point was clear.</p><p>Pandora meditated the theory, heart growing heavy at the implications — <em>selfless, Harry-sama had really been selfless — </em>but still, even if Harry-sama had taken the World items into his inventory, Pandora <em>should</em> have noticed. He was in charge of the treasury and all the items within, so any changes to its inventory were automatically noted in his mind. That had always been the case whenever one of the Lords added or removed anything, back when they were still in Yggdrasil.</p><p>He mentioned as much to Jarvis, feeling surprised when the zerg immediately shook his head with disagreement.</p><p>“Sir didn’t rely too much on his inventory. When it came to keeping things at hand, he always used the… he had a small bag hanging around his neck, like a collar, did you happen to see it?”</p><p>Pandora had, but the thing was so small and ugly— no, no, that was disrespectful of Harry-sama’s choices —<em>unassuming</em>. Yes, unassuming was the word. It was small and unassuming and clearly not meant to contain and protect one’s precious items.</p><p>But if his absent Lord really had placed the World items in that bag instead of using the inventory… Pandora couldn’t rule out the possibility that he may not have been alerted by it. An item was considered as ‘<em>removed’</em> from the Treasury when someone equipped it, or placed it in the inventory, so if neither action was made…</p><p>“T-then, if Harry-sama took them away…” That meant he hadn’t failed in his function?</p><p>“I believe that’s the most likely scenario, considering Albedo and Aureole Omega handed over their items to him, a few days before— before we... came here.”</p><p>Pandora allowed for a flicker of hope to take root in his heart. Yes, the Guardian Overseer really had mentioned that… and although Pandora had never spoken to the Pleiade’s sister in the 8<sup>th</sup> residence, if what Jarvis said was really true, then maybe—</p><p>“That… could be?”</p><p>Was he really allowed to hope?</p><p>“It would also explain…” Jarvis started carefully, gaze softening as he looked at Pandora, “why he chose not to come by to give you a farewell. Maybe he was afraid you’d notice?”</p><p>Pandora breathed shakily.</p><p>Oh, how he would love that to be true. To know that Harry-sama hadn’t been disappointed in him, that his now absent Lord had, perhaps, been proud of him— loved him just as much as he had his comrades. That his Master would have liked to play with his military cap one last time—</p><p>Long fingers curled over his lap, the pants’ fabric wrinkling irreparably in his shaking grasp. Jarvis was the one that had spent the most time with Harry-sama, the one that knew him the best — apart from Ainz-sama of course — so maybe, if the zerg believed that, it may be accurate to assume…</p><p>“D-do you think—”</p><p>“Sir always had a soft spot for you,” Jarvis admitted gently, eyes taking a far-away look as he got lost in memories, “Sir used to… mention you, every time after visiting the Treasury, like interacting with you was the part he liked the most about each visit.”</p><p>The sincere admission made Pandora release a disbelieving shaky laugh. Jarvis extended one boney wing behind Pandora’s back, and then curled the appendage around him in a side-way hug. The action made him lower his posture, so he could curl against Jarvis’ side more naturally, finding reassurance in the weight pressing around him. It was like an anchor, preventing him from drifting away into dangerous waters.</p><p>“Schmusekater, you’re not lying to me, are you?” He couldn’t help but ask, even though he already knew the answer.</p><p>“I would never. Sir really did like you, I have no doubt in my mind about that. I believe he would have come for a last visit, had he...”</p><p>The sentence remained unfinished. There was a lot of speculation and what-ifs in this theory, it had a lot of holes they never would be able to fill out, no matter how much time they spent brainstorming.</p><p>But even then, Pandora chose to believe. To cling to that thin ray of hope. To—</p><p>“Pandora’s Actor.” Oh, a [<strong>Message</strong>] from his creator!</p><p>Pandora pushed away the wing and jumped out of the couch in an instant, straightening and clicking his heels together, right hand going to his forehand to salute. The moment of vulnerability was over as he slipped into his excitable character once more, ignoring with practiced ease the way Jarvis’ snorted at his actions.</p><p>Truly, the zerg had to be the only being in the whole world that could find his mannerisms worth teasing for. The nerve!</p><p>“JA! It is I, Pandora’s Actor~~!” he sang merrily, ignoring Jarvis suspicious coughing behind him, “what can I do for—"</p><p>“We’re going to battle.” His creator sounded absolutely <em>livid</em>. Whoever this Jim person was, he must have done something truly unforgivable. After all, the plan had been to attempt to strike amiable conversation first. What had broken up negotiations in such a short amount of time?</p><p>“Very well Mein Meister! Which set should I—”</p><p>“THAT BASTARD!” His creator started to yell unprompted, voice laced with the purest rage, “THAT GARBAGE! HOW DARE HE! DARE TO HAVE THAT LANCE! HARRY’S! THAT SHIT! DOES HE THINK THAT CAN EVER BE FORGIVEN?! THAT—”</p><p>The furious screaming suddenly halted, the raw emotion disappearing as the Overlord returned to his usual calm. It was a sudden change, as if the emotion had simply been cut off.</p><p>"...that piece of shit has Harry’s main weapon. Standing there in the Inn so nonchalantly, waiting— <em>hmph</em>. This changes things. Execute the plan we had agreed on and wait for my signal, this is not a battle we can afford to lose. You understand, right Pandora? Truthfully, I am still very angry...”</p><p>Harry-sama would never give away his main weapon. The implication of what may have happened hung heavy over his head.</p><p>Pandora straightened to his full height, long fingers curling into fists as he pronounced an uncharacteristically serious “Ja.”</p><p>“How much time?”</p><p>“Within the hour, Mein Meister.”</p><p>“Good. I will start preparations on my side as well, leave the coordination to Albedo, focus on your own role. An hour… yes, Jim will probably stay in the Inn, waiting for that long. Anymore and he may leave, so keep me posted if anything comes up that can jeopardize our allocated time.”</p><p>“JA!” Pandora saluted once more, this time letting out a blood-thirsty aura that made Jarvis hurriedly stand up from the couch as well.</p><p>Once the [<strong>Message</strong>] ended, Pandora shared the news with him.</p><p>The killing intent within the room doubled.</p><p>Within the next hour, said murdering intent spread like fire all over Nazarick, as the news were shared among its denizens.</p><p> The human, Jim, had managed to gather the animosity of the entire Guild in record time.</p><p>(x)</p><p>Harry looked at the [<strong>Gate</strong>] that had appeared in front of them as soon as they were away from prying eyes, standing in an alley that was filled to the brim with anti-detection magic, probably prepared beforehand.</p><p>Harry glanced at Momon once more, his mind working to accommodate the pieces of the puzzle. He had never met someone that could use [<strong>Gate</strong>] in this world, and now suddenly there were two people that had access to such magic? And both aimed against his “Jim” visage.</p><p>Coincidence? No, the universe was rarely so lazy.</p><p>Momon must be… <em>linked</em>, somehow, with the farm and demi-human kidnappings. Heck, maybe the adamantite adventurer was <em>The</em> Summoner? The man never removed his armor or helmet, from what little Harry had heard about him. It was entirely possible, that the man may not really be human, perhaps not even a warrior, and was just posing as one… and even then, someone that still had managed to rank among the strongest adventurers.</p><p>It made sense if Momon was the summoner, since Harry had estimated them to be at least at 95 level. Right now, he couldn’t perceive anything, so he surmised Momon was protecting himself with items or skills, but Harry was willing to bet his theory was correct. He would have been able to confirm it if he could use Legilimency on the warrior, but the helmet prevented him from directly meeting the man’s gaze.</p><p>Actually, now that he thought of it, could this man be a player? If yes, that would make him the first one Harry encountered in this new world.</p><p>Could they reach an agreement if they talked—?</p><p>
  <em>I won’t accept the request without testing your strength first.</em>
</p><p>The adamantite adventurer had stated that with a sense of finality. Harry inwardly sighed, accepting he would need to implement a strategy that could defeat the man without causing any lasting damage.</p><p>Maybe demoralizing him would be enough? Surely Momon would surrender and be willing to talk things out once he noticed winning was impossible. That should prevent him from resenting Harry’s victory as well — either out of fear or out of common sense, the pros outweighing the cons — which may allow for a mutually beneficial exchange of info.</p><p>That would be the best-case scenario, and the one he would aim towards.</p><p>“Hm? Whatever is wrong?” Momon inquired mockingly, still standing a few steps behind Harry in a way that was probably meant to block an escape attempt.</p><p>Instead of replying, Harry silently dispelled his low-level armor, so he was once again equipped with the robes he had used when he was taken by the shadow demon. Unstrapping the lance from his back, he tapped its end against the floor softly.</p><p>“Must we really fight?” Harry tried one last time.</p><p>“I’ve already answered that,” Momon replied without missing a beat, anger lacing the words even more viciously. The warrior didn’t seem surprised by Harry’s change of equipment, which reinforced his theory of the man being linked to the farm.</p><p>Harry wondered what, exactly, he had done to warrant such hatred. He hadn’t even managed to interfere with the farm’s demi-human ‘<em>stock’</em> collection yet. The only thing that came to mind was that, if they had really surmised that he was taking intel from the summons, then maybe they were under the misconception that Harry knew more than what he actually did.</p><p>It was something that could have been solved by talking, but Harry knew better than to try when the opposing party was so obviously unwilling.</p><p>“Had to try,” Harry sighed sincerely, before stepping through the [<strong>Gate</strong>].</p><p>The place he was led to was a relatively wide clearance inside the Great Forest of Tob. Harry knew that since the imposing wooden building was easy to spot from his current position.</p><p>The [<strong>Gate</strong>] behind him closed, without Momon passing through. Harry hadn’t expected him to.</p><p>Taking a defensive stance, Harry silently extended his magic around his immediate surroundings. He felt several traps around the place, the rubber-like capsule around the area that was supposed to prevent him from escaping— [<strong>Dimensional</strong> <strong>Block</strong>] if he recalled correctly — and there was the tell-away tingly feeling that meant he was being observed.</p><p>He should leave the surveillance magic alone. He was trying to make a point, so showing how one-sided the battle was going to be was a must. The magic preventing his escape was useless against him either way, so there was no need to take that one down either. As for the traps… should he make a show of purposely activating them, just to demonstrate that they didn’t really hurt him? Or would it cause a bigger impact to have them all dismantled at once? The second option was probably better—</p><p>Eh? Wait, were those— <em>holy shit, what the flying fuck</em>—</p><p>There was an army of creatures all over the place, waiting underground to ambush him. Ones that registered in his inner radar as both: a few thousand individuals and only one.</p><p>That only happened when he was dealing with the zerg race; a single mind for thousands of living signatures. <em>Crap, crap, crap</em>— he needed to find the Overmind first, otherwise things were going to— aw, <em>shit</em>.</p><p>There were some others surrounding him at his level, on the ground, and good amount flying over the sky. He perceived those as a combination of mostly demons, undead, beasts — there was a Beast Tamer around? — and zergs.</p><p><em>Shitty devs,</em> Harry inwardly cursed out of habit more than anything else. They were spaced out, so using spells that covered a wide area wouldn’t be enough to cause significative damage.</p><p>Harry had the feeling that this was going to be a similar experience to his conquest on Jald’s dungeon: a very interesting fight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AUTHOR NOTE:</p><p>Lock the doors and close the blinds, we’re going for a ride!</p><p>Something worth mentioning, the scene with Jarvis and Pandora is dedicated to J.F.C. who mentioned that they would make a good couple. You’re free to read it with shipping glasses on! *wink, wink* If not comfortable with that, you can leave them as a best-bro-buddy-friends, both options work.</p><p>It was fun writing Pandora in a way that resembled Ainz. His sudden fear of solitude and abandonment is a reflection of what his creator is going through... hope that was transmitted correctly.  Also, I don’t know German, so the nicknames were googled. I’m sorry if those are not actual petnames! Feel free to suggest some if that’s better.</p><p>Thanks for reading! See ya’ around~ dEBB987</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Move</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 4 Move</strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I suspect… this is done under the premise that we may, in the future, encounter an adversary that we won’t be able to defeat in an individual battle.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“An opponent that we Guardians can’t defeat? Does something like that really exist?”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Aura, it’s not only covering for the possibility of coming across a formidable enemy, but also meant for us to have a steady teamwork and get used to cooperating with each other,” Demiurge had explained patiently.</em>
</p>
<p>The Sealed Evil Tree.</p>
<p>An opponent of level 85 that the “adventurer Momon” had encountered in a mission that was supposed to be simple herb-harvesting. Taking advantage of the huge size of the plant-type monster — big enough to use its wood tentacles to take the trees from their roots and eat them — Ainz-sama had deemed it a great opportunity for the Floor Guardians to polish their teamwork, since that was one of the areas the NPCs didn’t have any experience in.</p>
<p>
  <em>“Let’s honor Ainz-sama’s wish and assign the roles to fight.” Demiurge had finished after a short discussion, before turning to look at Albedo.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“It may be a weak opponent, but look behind us… Ainz-sama is evaluating us!” The Guardian Overseer exclaimed seriously, which was enough to finally drive the point home.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“T-then, let’s w-work together!”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Understood. What. Is. My. Role?”</em>
</p>
<p>The fight after that had been a short one. Albedo had taken the Tank role, Cocytus and Shalltear were the Physical attackers, Aura deviated the enemy’s attention— and was the seeker in case the enemy summoned anything — while Mare and Demiurge had taken support roles, adapting as the fight evolved.</p>
<p>Ainz-sama had seemed satisfied with the results… considering it was their first attempt, at least. But now—</p>
<p>“Then what are we supposed to do; remain here and be useless?! That <em>bastard</em> fought against Harry-sama and—and—" Shalltear gritted her teeth irately, unable to finish her sentence.</p>
<p>Jarvis’ wings shivered, but otherwise remained dead still. The Overmind didn’t need to utter a word to show his killing intent; it was clear in his expression. One that was mirrored by the others.</p>
<p>“The enemy has a brainwashing skill. Have you already forgotten what happened to you, Shalltear?” Demiurge stated harshly, since explaining in educated ways hadn’t worked so far, his fellow Guardians too furious to see reason. “The summons will be bait to see if he uses that skill, and if the limitations are clear enough for us then you’ll be allowed to join the fight—"</p>
<p>“I. Want. To. <em>Dismember</em>. <em>Him</em>—”</p>
<p>“You won’t be stepping into the battlefield either. That’s Ainz-sama’s order. Unless you want to… <em>revel</em> against him?” Albedo hissed heatedly, already out of patience as well. They had a limited time to prepare — only an hour — and this pointless discussion had already consumed a considerable portion of that assigned time.</p>
<p>Cocytus released a cloud of cold air, mandibles clacking with palpable frustration, but nodded silently in understanding. Shalltear had silently agreed as well, expression ashamed at the reminder of her previous failure. A reminder she <em>shouldn’t have needed</em>, the crime too dire for her to simply forget, even if for a <em>single second</em>—</p>
<p>…he was being too harsh.</p>
<p>Demiurge silently admonished himself, and mentally shook his head.</p>
<p>He had been created to maintain a cool head at all times. He was Nazarick’s strategist, his leader when it came to defending, he shouldn’t be losing his temper now. <em>But</em>.</p>
<p>Even for him, it was difficult to ignore the cold, raw fury— the way his devious mind couldn’t stop imagining the kind of torture he would personally inflict during the interrogation. The way he wanted nothing more than to— <em>no</em>.</p>
<p>
  <em>In… out… in…</em>
</p>
<p>His fellow Guardians may feel even more uneasy if they noticed his inner conflict. For someone like him to display strong emotions— no, he had to calm down. He had to—</p>
<p>“Please allow me to join if the situation allows for Physical attackers,” Sebas requested with barely contained anger, bowing stiffly. The sentence pierced the otherwise silent room, which was enough to bring Demiurge back to the present.</p>
<p>“If Ainz-sama allows,” Albedo agreed simply, before finally turning to address the others. “Physical encounters are not permitted, not under any circumstances. If the enemy approaches, you are to use Ainz-sama’s given equipment to exchange places with the summons of the battlefield. If you find yourselves unable to lose the enemy, then we’ll use our last resort. Is that clear?”</p>
<p>Demiurge nodded, along with Aura, Mare, and Pandora. The only NPCs actively involved in the fight to come, that weren’t disposable summons or mercenaries.</p>
<p>“I will be coordinating everything from the Throne room, sitting upon our remaining World item. If there’s anything that’s only visible for World-level users, then I’ll communicate it immediately. You’re to report your findings through the open channel as well, at all times.”</p>
<p>Demiurge tuned out the chorus of agreement that resounded, already thinking of his long-range fighting strategy while trying to keep his bloodlust at a bearable level.</p>
<p>A downside of being a demon was that it was incredibly difficult to control— no, no excuses.</p>
<p>He would fulfill his role flawlessly, no matter what.</p>
<p>(x)</p>
<p>Harry needed to keep moving.</p>
<p>Evading all the traps that had been in his immediate surroundings, he had made himself invisible, used spells to hide his HP and MP levels from anyone that may be paying attention to those, and took to the skies in the same desperate manner a fish would flap around to try to return to the water.</p>
<p>The army attacking him had all sort of creatures of varying levels, from the measly 50 to the higher 90-ish. Being invisible kept those of lower levels from spotting him. Being in the sky meant that those bound to the ground could only target him with large-ranged attacks, which was exactly what he preferred.</p>
<p>In this world, and back in Yggdrasil as well, there were two kinds of magic resistance. One was based on the power level of the spells — which was the one that most players used — and, simply put, completely negated the effects of low and mid-tier spells, regardless of how powerful their casters were. This way, even if it was a World-level enemy, if the spell used was low-tiered then it wouldn’t affect most players.</p>
<p>Harry’s magic resistance was different however. Belonging to the second, much rarer kind, he was affected by the opponent’s stats and levels. Even a 10<sup>th</sup> tier spell would not be able to breach his resistance if it was casted by a weaker magic caster. As such, when it came down to magical attacks, only those equal or more powerful than Harry himself could hope to harm him. Raid Bosses being a prime example.</p>
<p>He could still be injured by physical attacks of course, if those managed to break through his high defense, and skills since those didn’t really count as magic, but harmful spells were mostly negated. That being said, he didn’t like to get too confident, so he usually fought and evaded as if those could actually harm him.</p>
<p>Right now, he didn’t have that luxury.</p>
<p>He flew around the wide area, focusing on evading the physical attacks of the high-tiered creatures that were persecuting him — [<strong>Perfect Unknowable</strong>] couldn’t hide him from all of them, after all — and choosing to ignore the harmful magic that was being directed at him from the ground, since it was rendered useless against him. Some were using skills that <em>did</em> cause harm, but the pain was bearable, so those were probably not causing much damage.</p>
<p>Harry wasn’t fighting back— well, not precisely with killing intent at least. He used his lance’s [<strong>Rejection effect</strong>] to push back the flying pests that had managed to close the distance, hovering near him to either deliver a few blows, or try to debuff him in some way. The flying zergs, particularly, seemed to actively be trying to break through his invisibility spell, which was an absolute no-no if he wanted to continue fooling the low-tiered part of the army, so more often than not he had to focus on the zergs more than on the ones dealing damage.</p>
<p> He felt the blows taken as pain, but his HP wasn’t affected in any meaningful way. It was still bothersome though, and not something he should completely ignore, so he lashed out with his lance whenever he was able to. The enemies that were persistent enough to get repeatedly slashed ended up dissipating in just a few hits.</p>
<p>His lance’s main function, back when he was still in Yggdrasil, was to discover the enemy’s weakness. Two consecutive slashes would enable him to know the main elements/skills the opponent was unprepared to resist, and with that information, Harry and Momonga would then deliver specific attacks to exploit said weaknesses.</p>
<p>Sadly, he had been unable to further modify his own weapon without the Guild’s Blacksmith help; an Yggdrasil restriction — apparently Harry didn’t have enough knowledge (which translated to job-classes) about weapon-making to make any Divine-rated equipment, which made sense since he usually relied on the elder wand in most worlds — that had kept him from improving the lance by adding automated runes.</p>
<p>After arriving at this world, said restriction stopped being in effect.</p>
<p>Thus, each time Harry slashed an opponent, the lance identified its weakness, the runes all over its handle glowing as the symbols rearranged themselves accordingly, and fired whatever kind of spell the weapon had identified as the best course of action. The lance didn’t really require Harry’s input to attack, although he could still interfere to change, pause, or fully stop the magic from taking effect.</p>
<p>Thus, although not his main focus, he had managed to dispel a good amount of the enemies that had been physically persecuting him. Still, Harry knew better than to grow a big head for such a small accomplishment.</p>
<p>No, that wasn’t relevant in the grand scheme of things. The fastest way to deal with such an army should be by locating the zerg’s Overmind— perhaps Momon wasn’t the demon summoner, but the zerg leader? He should have considered the possibility of several players being involved, not only one — and destroying it. Thus, he kept flying around in different directions with his senses up to their sharpest, most sensitive level, seeking a very particular signal and ignoring the rest.</p>
<p>The amount of control exerted over the zerg race also impacted their intelligence. Without the Overmind’s control the zerglings would become little more than animals, attacking everything on sight; even their own kind. That would mean that the enemy would lose control over more than half an army, which in turn would attack the undead, beasts, and demons that—</p>
<p>“<em>Ow</em>! The hell!?” Harry groaned, massaging his injured torso. One particular spell had actually… hurt a lot?</p>
<p>There was someone on his level here?</p>
<p>He looked down at the ground, but locating the strong foe was difficult with so many sources firing at him, all from different directions. Damn, how many where there to cover such a large area? They were all over the Forest of Tob, which had almost the same length as the Katze— <em>Ouch</em>!</p>
<p>One out of every ten spells or so dealt significant damage. This… hmn, it felt similar to a [<strong>Triple Maximize Magic: Reality Slash</strong>] — one of Momonga’s favorites, hence the first to come to mind — or another similarly enhanced offensive spell of the 10<sup>th</sup> tier.</p>
<p>On normal circumstances, a simple [<strong>Discern Enemy</strong>] would let him know which of his multiple opponents had the right level to inflict damage, but that was useless when the responsible was hidden among so many foes. Truly, a great way of hiding a tree in a forest— <em>ouch</em>.</p>
<p>You know what, fuck it.</p>
<p>Having discerned that the Overmind wasn’t in this direction — close to the wooden fortress — Harry apparated back to his starting point, instantly losing his persecutors. Letting out a satisfied sigh, he started to fly in the opposite direction—</p>
<p>Only to be unexpectedly intercepted, as nature itself suddenly gained life and turned against him. The branches of the trees grew and twisted like a particularly malicious whip and— <em>woah</em>, <em>that was close</em>— and he really needed to— <em>hell no!</em></p>
<p>The traps he had ignored at the beginning of the battle weren’t damaging ones as he had thought. They were <em>blinding</em> ones, with the effect of a hundred freaking flash bombs, the unexpected light and piercing sound that exploded when he accidentally activated one made all the others go off in quick succession.</p>
<p>He instinctively closed his eyes and summoned the elder wand, activating a silent spell to protect his suddenly overwhelmed senses, trying to recover as fast as possible. Honestly, the whole ordeal didn’t take him more than a few seconds.</p>
<p>Which wasn’t fast enough, apparently.</p>
<p>The branches took a hold of his legs and forcefully pulled him down, just as the earth parted below him — which in itself wasn’t an issue, since he could fly. No, the problem was that the zergs that had been buried underneath had sprouted in the earth like horrible, insectoid plants, and by the time Harry got free of the whip-like branches he was already too close to them.</p>
<p>The battle turned into a close-ranged, physical one.</p>
<p>It wasn’t his specialty, and although he could usually defend himself just fine when pinned against several enemies, the amount of zergs currently clawing at him was downright <em>ridiculous</em>. Fucking Overmind apparently had enough time to spawn and infect at its freaking leisure for, at least, several months already— ow, what the— <em>ow</em>, stupid things aiming at his eyes — <em>fuck everything</em>.</p>
<p>“[<strong>Wabbajack</strong>]!” Harry exclaimed with closed eyes, activating the wide-ranged attack.</p>
<p>The area around him was illuminated by a vivid orange color, engulfing a great part of the zergs that were surrounding him. Those below level 60 that had been in the affected area were turned into harmless, skittish rodents, scattering away unassumingly.</p>
<p>With only the high-tiered ones remaining, Harry had more room to move and lash out with his lance, which had a [<strong>Rejection effect</strong>] that pushed them even farther away—</p>
<p>A thundering sound resonated.</p>
<p>Apparently, during this short amount of time, the weather had been magically altered. Harry didn’t even notice until thunder started to crack down, impaling the spot he had been standing at, just a second ago. The attack was closely followed by magical arrows that were either poisoned or were imbued with a disintegrating effect, considering the aspect of the ground they had landed at.</p>
<p>He needed to keep moving.</p>
<p>Flying off the ground once more, he purposely moved through the forest instead of taking off to the sky, alternating between slashing and evading the moving vegetation, as well as keeping at bay the beasts that were persecuting him, and moving out of the way of the thunder that was <em>still</em> cracking and clashing all around him, trying its darndest to fry him up, closely followed by the stupidly fast arrows— and oh, would you look at that, there was freaking <em>hellfire</em> underneath too, like— <em>ugk!</em> — like he wasn’t dealing with enough<em> shit </em>already!</p>
<p>Judging by the accuracy of these attacks, the ones controlling the wildlife should probably be close enough to—</p>
<p>A sudden chill made his skin erupt in goosebumps, and he felt the urge to look behind him.</p>
<p>Harry pointedly ignored that urge and charged forward. For the enemy to use such a skill, inducing terror to try to make him switch directions, must be because he was already too close for comfort. <em>Perfect</em>.</p>
<p>[<strong>Astral Binding</strong>]</p>
<p>There were two reasons he was trying to keep his best cards to himself.</p>
<p>One was that Harry had to consider the enemies’ expectations. What the enemy needed in order to have a winning chance was information— his battle skills, in other words. They could use disposable troops to gauge his combat strength, and then create a winning strategy based on the weaknesses and limitations he displayed. After all, if they could command such a high-tiered army, then there was a small chance Harry may actually loose if he was caught off guard by the real orchestrators.</p>
<p>The second was that the best way of dealing with such a number of enemies was with wards, but the bigger the area he needed to cover, the longer it would take him to place any kind of ward, and he couldn’t exactly stand still when he had such an army at his tails, focused only on him. Not without being left at the brink of death, probably… he would consider this option once he was certain of how many parties were leading this massive attack.</p>
<p>Thus, on this instance, he had waited until he was close enough to place his imprisonment ward in his immediate surroundings. The area covered was a small one, but it should be enough. Whoever enemy was orchestrating this wouldn’t be able to leave, but that wasn’t what was relevant to him at the moment.</p>
<p>It was the fact that the imprisonment ward didn’t allow anything to go in or out, not even<em> magic</em>.</p>
<p>Apparating just out of the ward’s range, he was pleased to have his theory confirmed: the trees didn’t persecute him, nor did the thunder or the high-tiered beasts that had been chasing him, and the demonic fire was still burning in the area he left behind.</p>
<p>High-level enemy currently neutralized, he could now focus back on locating the Overmind zerg.</p>
<p>Honestly, the goddamn thing could very well be on the other side of the freaking planet. But, if that were truly the case, then there should be communication zerglings — which acted as some sort of signal-receiving antenna — around the place. Those were quite tall and gross, hard to miss, really, and Harry hadn’t seen any in the battlefield so far.</p>
<p>Which meant that the Overmind was close enough to the battlefield that no communication zerglings were needed to rely its mental commands, so it should—</p>
<p><em>Crap</em>.</p>
<p>He didn’t activate the non-communication effect of the imprisonment ward; he should go back and— eh?</p>
<p>For a second, his whole body had frozen up, before his defenses automatically activated to forcefully get rid of the frost.</p>
<p>That— was that [<strong>Frost of Judecca</strong>]? It was a skill, and it was… familiar. There was someone… who had used that the most, back when he was still… in Yggdrasil? He couldn’t quite pinpoint—</p>
<p>Thinking… was… mushy. Weird? Confusing.</p>
<p>He had… <em>stuff</em>, against such negative status though. It shouldn’t be able to… affect him.</p>
<p>Slow. His thinking was slow. What was he… doing?</p>
<p>What was he doing?</p>
<p>It was important. Important… something. Stuff. Fight?</p>
<p>Why was he fighting, again? No, he was forgetting something.  What was it? He needed to remember… there was… <em>something</em> to remember.</p>
<p>(x)</p>
<p>It didn’t seem to be working as it should. The enemy seemed lost, with a far-away gaze that denoted he wasn’t focused in the fight around him, but Jim’s body still defended almost as if in autopilot, so the summons weren’t causing significant damage.</p>
<p>Demiurge notified of his results in the shared communication channel.</p>
<p>“We still can’t— <em>damn it!”</em> Aura’s frustrated growl resonated over Mare’s “No use, we c-can’t leave…”</p>
<p>So even with the enemy’s mind affected, whatever was trapping them was still in effect.</p>
<p>…that had been close, their foe had almost stumbled upon Aura. Even worse when the item that was supposed to let her exchange places with a summon suddenly didn’t function. They were lucky their enemy didn’t seem overall concerned with her, and instead chose to teleport away from their zone.</p>
<p>As Mare had observed, [<strong>Delay Teleportation</strong>] and [<strong>Dimensional Lock</strong>] really didn’t work against Jim. Not placing said useless restrictions around the battlefield had been for the best.</p>
<p><em>“The first half of the battlefield will be focused on gathering intel,” </em>Ainz-sama had said, <em>“don’t expect us to deal great damage in that phase.”</em></p>
<p>Those words seemed to ring true. Alas, the fact that Demiurge had used his ultimate form — which was needed for him to be able to use this special skill — was the signal that denoted the end of that learning phase.</p>
<p>“Umu. For now, hide underground with Jarvis’ zerglings, since your attacks can’t leave the area either,” Ainz-sama ordered to the immobilized twins, before adding; “Demiurge, Pandora, we are now moving to phase two.”</p>
<p>“Preparing!” Pandora exclaimed through the shared channel.</p>
<p>“In position,” Demiurge confirmed, while inwardly marveling at his Lord’s perfect deductions. This had gone, mostly, according to plan.</p>
<p>Ainz-sama had deduced that, with a massive army attacking him, Jim wouldn’t have time to take control, much less gain intel, from the summons. Also, the use of Teleportation-hindering magic would have affected only Nazarick’s side, so it wasn’t implemented anywhere but for the small section where the [<strong>Gate</strong>] had first opened to let Jim step into their trap, to give an ignorant impression to the enemy, more than anything else. It was better if he thought Nazarick had learned nothing from their first encounter.</p>
<p>“The lance’s power to inflict damage seems to be stronger now. To be modified in such a way— how… how long has it been here?” Ainz-sama muttered, seemingly to himself.</p>
<p><em>For how long has Harry been here? </em>was the meaning behind that sentence, <em>if he was still even aliv—</em></p>
<p><em>No,</em> his mind growled. The battlefield wasn’t the right place to dwell on such thoughts.</p>
<p>“Ainz-sama, at first I thought it was due to [<strong>False Data</strong>] spells, but the effect doesn’t seem to be the same… and [<strong>See Through</strong>] only made both grow,” Pandora noted out loud, as if to chase away that train of thought.</p>
<p>“Umu. I noticed as well.”</p>
<p>[<strong>False Data</strong>] spells made it seem like the target had less HP /MP than it really had, to lure the opponent into a false sense of security, so it didn’t serve to explain why Jim’s was still so large. [<strong>See Through</strong>] was supposed to nullify any attempt at altering the perception of one’s HP or MP, but even then… it had still been too untouched for it to be normal.</p>
<p>Their next phase should be enough to deal a good amount of damage though.</p>
<p>“This is… hmn, I do wonder.”</p>
<p>“…Ainz-sama?” Albedo prompted softly when he didn’t elaborate. There was a long moment of silence, before the Overlord spoke again.</p>
<p>“Umu. There was… a rumored ‘<em>wandering Raid Boss’</em> in Yggdrasil, that didn’t have a specific dungeon— or well, more like its dungeon switched places at random all over the Nine Worlds. I’m starting to think… hmn, this battle so far, it reflects quite a few telling points of things that I had heard about in the player’s community.”</p>
<p>There was a sharp intake of breath in their shared communication link.</p>
<p>“…are we fighting a Raid Boss?” Albedo asked after that short pause.</p>
<p>Demiurge frowned, tail swinging harshly as if to strike something— before he noticed the movement and forcefully stopped it, mid-swing.</p>
<p>Even if that was true, it didn’t change anything.</p>
<p>It was true that beings with World Items were fearsome, and so were those with powerful classes, such as World Champion — and now Raid Boss. However, if the enemy was alone, they wouldn’t be able to defeat Nazarick without using one of <em>The</em> <em>Twenty</em>.</p>
<p>“It’s highly— eh? What is he doin— <em>Demiurge</em>! Is your skill—”</p>
<p>Still active? Yes, it was supposed to be.</p>
<p>“He’s [<strong>Teleporting</strong>] away. It probably noticed my skill has a limited range,” Demiurge hissed out loud, using his own methods to track and keep up with the enemy’s position, but even then, he was barely—</p>
<p>“Foooound!” Jim sing-songed as he appeared right in front of him, mind obviously still affected, but still managing to—<em>arck</em>!</p>
<p>Demiurge had modified his own arm to form a shield, and activated a skill to defend, but even when the attack itself was blocked, he was still pushed away with the lance’s [<strong>Rejection effect</strong>].</p>
<p>That worked in his favor. He needed to avoid a physical fight, no matter what. Even if the chances of being brainwashed were low, at least for as long as his special skill was in effect—</p>
<p>The lance’s sharp end broke in three equal-sized parts, like a blooming flower, which then suddenly withdrew all the way back to the handle to reveal a cannon-like shooter, a blueish light growing from it before it shot like a laser beam right at— <em>move!</em></p>
<p>Demiurge barely managed to evade it. The summons flying behind him weren’t so lucky, and he noted that any and all demons the laser beam encountered were either significantly injured, or completely annihilated.</p>
<p>“The lance can still identify major weaknesses,” Demiurge reported in a low voice.</p>
<p>Harry-sama’s lance hadn’t been able to immediately attack however, not with something of <em>that</em> magnitude; the weapon had suffered major modifications since—</p>
<p><em>“</em>Get out of there, Demiurge! Pandora is—” Ainz-sama started to order, just as Pandora said: “In position! Move away!”</p>
<p>“Trying to—” And he really was attempting to place some distance. This time around, he was the one using [<strong>Greater Teleportation</strong>] to get to the opposing side of the battlefield, but the man still managed to teleport right along him, with only a second or so of difference. The summons trying to divert Jim’s attention weren’t succeeding in their efforts.</p>
<p>Demiurge altered his appearance. Modified his arms to continue defending, his wings and tail to increase his speed, his claws to try to attack him in such a manner that Jim would be pushed as far away as possible, and <em>still</em>—</p>
<p>“Hehehe,” Jim laughed stupidly, in the same manner someone heavily dosed would, “you’re fam— fami— fa-mi-liar. Seen ya’ before?”</p>
<p>Demiurge didn’t dignify that with an answer. Ignoring the ramblings of someone whose mind was heavily compromised was just common sense—</p>
<p>“Seen! Yeah! In nahm, Nazahdirgk, hahaha!” Jim exclaimed triumphantly, the lance’s attack momentarily halting, and Demiurge felt his blood run cold.</p>
<p>This foe could garner knowledge from those he controlled. Ainz-sama had deduced that it was, most likely, similar to the way the zerglings could infect low-level beings, basically getting glimpses of their life as the parasites slowly harvested information from the victim.</p>
<p>If Harry-sama had fallen to this individual, it wasn’t impossible to...</p>
<p>“How <em>dare</em>—” he started to growl, body changing to inflict as much damage as possible—</p>
<p>“Demiurge—!”</p>
<p>—and landed a direct hit. The enemy, unlike before, didn’t do anything to defend himself, so Jim was sent crashing all the way down, impaling the ground with a resounding—</p>
<p>“DEMIURGE! OUT OF THERE, NOW!” Ainz-sama ordered, apparently not for the first time, which forcefully snapped him out of his stupor.</p>
<p>When he [<strong>Teleported</strong>] away, this time Jim didn’t follow him.</p>
<p>(x)</p>
<p><em>Ow, haha</em>…. ha?</p>
<p>What— why was he laughing? What the hell? And he was— <em>ugh</em>, back underground with the freaking zergs. <em>Peachy</em>.</p>
<p>Slashing blindly around him, he apparated with a loud <em>Crack</em>! as soon as he had enough space, immediately losing his persecutors, and flew at random as he tried to clear up his mind. Everything was fuzzy, what exactly happened? How long had he been— <em>huh</em>?</p>
<p>Was that Super-tier magic?</p>
<p>There was a very distinguishable blue dome coming from the place that was near the fortress, where Harry had used to be just a moment ago.</p>
<p>He had… yeah, he had been too focused on… finding the Overmind? Probably? Huh, perhaps that hadn’t been the best idea, he seemed to have missed… whoever was doing that.</p>
<p>His mind felt sluggish, and there was something yelling at him at the back of his mind, but he could pay attention to it once he interrupted that attack.</p>
<p>After all, it was an easy fix.</p>
<p>Harry apparated back to his previous position, slashing the enemies nearby with a distracted swing, and looked down at the individual inside the dome just at the same time as the figure crushed the cash item that nullified the loading time of Super-tier magic.</p>
<p>Shocked to the core, Harry muttered an incredulous “what?” and dumbly stood still as the harmful item fell over him.</p>
<p>Despite its name, super-tier magic was actually more like a special ability rather than an actual spell. Players could unleash it without consuming any MP, and it wasn’t, exactly, limited to Magic Casters. One just needed to have a particular mix of job or racial classes — or win specific events — from what his Guildmates had explained back then.</p>
<p>Even as the [<strong>Sword of Damocles</strong>] started to fall over him — it counted as a physical attack. <em>Merlin, that’s gonna hurt</em> — Harry still could do nothing but stare at the figure.</p>
<p>In this new world, he had expected to, someday, be able to meet Momonga again.</p>
<p>He had never, not even in his wildest dreams, thought he would see Touch Me.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AUTHOR NOTE:<br/>Finally, something so utterly Nazarick that Harry can’t just unconsciously dismiss! Woo!</p>
<p>It’s been a long while since I last wrote a fighting scene. Special thanks to Caranithil_Chaos for their suggested comment, I do feel that my draft improved significantly after reading that! Kudos buddy!</p>
<p>Next chapter is mostly finished as well, drafted up at least 70% of it already, so let’s see how it goes~</p>
<p>Btw, The Sealed Evil Tree is actually an overlord CD drama, so you can look it up if you wanna see Floor Guardian's teamwork! ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for reading, see ya’ round~ dEBB987.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Truth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 5 Truth</strong>
</p>
<p>In an ideal world, had [<strong>Dimensional Lock</strong>] been able to affect the enemy, Pandora would have had enough time to active Touch Me-sama’s super-tier magic, the [<strong>Sword of Damocles</strong>] while the human was still at the opposite side of the battlefield. As it was now, Jim was flying in his field of vision when the giant, stylish sword materialized on the sky. The size of a 30-floor building, the glowing sword fell much faster than anything of that size had the right to, impaling the objective accurately.</p>
<p>It was the first cry of pain the enemy had let out since the fight started, and even if it was a short one, Pandora relished in it as he confirmed the impact to the HP with his enhanced vision.</p>
<p>Momentarily satisfied with the success of his attack, he used a support item to teleport to the opposing side of the battlefield, barely dodging the after-effect of the [<strong>Sword of Damocles</strong>]. Nothing happened when the massive sword impaled the target, but the instant the tip touched the ground—</p>
<p>The deafening sound of an explosion filled the air, the air pressure turning into slashing shockwaves which tore through the ground. It affected everything on the sky, on the earth, and buried underground, there was no hiding from it.</p>
<p>The low and mid-tier summons that were in that side of the battlefield died instantly, as the great wave engulfed the area surrounding the point of impact, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of dust, which looked almost like a sandstorm due to its intensity.</p>
<p>“Make the high-tiered survivors retreat, he may attempt to gain control over one,” his creator’s voice instructed over the shared link Albedo had constructed, to keep communication open among all parties during the battle.</p>
<p>“Already on it. Also, more summons are being sent to replace the ones lost, this time focusing on those specialized in air combat, as ordered,” Albedo answered immediately.</p>
<p>“Well done. Pandora, did you have enough time to see the impact?”</p>
<p>“Yes! It dealt heavy damage; the end of his HP is now visible!” Pandora confirmed, even as he moved to try to relocate the enemy once more.</p>
<p>“I see… then I was right in my deduction.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Ainz-sama!”</p>
<p>The Overlord’s magic resistance was able to completely nullify low and medium level magic, regardless of his opponent's magic strength. On the other hand, Shalltear's resistance to magic depended on her opponent's level.</p>
<p>The magical resistance of their enemy seemed to be like the one of Shalltear.</p>
<p>“Hmph. But if he’s a Raid Boss— that explains why he didn’t react to my attacks until I equipped on the Guild weapon,” Ainz-sama stated matter-of-factly, before adding, seemingly to himself, “shitty devs, there’s no player that could equal a damn Raid Boss on their own, why give it that kind of magical resistance?”</p>
<p>Pandora didn’t know what a “dev” was, but he silently cursed that word in his heart as well.</p>
<p>[<strong>Flying</strong>] during an ambush was, usually, a very quick way for anyone to <em>die</em> since all multiple enemies would have a clear shot at the individual. That was the reason most of Nazarick forces had been focused on covering the ground.</p>
<p>…only for most to be rendered <em>useless</em> due to Jim’s magical protection, as the man took the less-likely action at the beginning of the battle and flew all over the Great Forest of Tob.</p>
<p>Really, the design of such an enemy was — as Tabula-sama would say — unfairly “<em>broken</em>”, especially when paired against magic casters just like his creator, and considering the restriction they had on Physical attackers due to the unknown brainwashing factor— well, designing a fighting strategy wasn’t exactly easy.</p>
<p> Thus, upon discovering this, the Overlord had instructed him to use Touch Me-sama’s settings instead of the original plan of relying in Ulbert-sama’s chaotic magic, which delayed things a little, even considering that Pandora had only gone to the protected dome behind Aura’s fortress to change equipment.</p>
<p>The reason he had not returned to Nazarick was to prevent the enemy from learning that they could replenish their forces indefinitely using the [<strong>Portal</strong>] spell. This would make him think that the strength of the guild could be worn down over time; a false sense of security.</p>
<p>That said, the change in settings made him come back late into the battlefield— although it was right on time, in a sense, since Demiurge had seemed to momentarily—</p>
<p>“Enemy’s on the move. Evading only, the summons around him don’t seem to matter to him anymore,” the 7<sup>th</sup> floor guardian interrupted his line of thought, almost as if he had known Pandora was thinking of him.</p>
<p>Pandora took a stance and waited. Since the enemy had seen him cast Super-tier magic, it was to be expected that he would be the main target now—</p>
<p>“Teleport to the sky!” Ainz-sama suddenly ordered, and Pandora immediately complied, activating the [<strong>Fly</strong>] item around his neck once he was up, so he could hover above the trees.</p>
<p>Not a second after he teleported, a magical wave washed through the whole battlefield. It seemed harmless at first glance, even the low-tier summons remained unaffected, so perhaps…</p>
<p>“A radar to locate—? <em>Ack!</em>” Pandora’s phrase was interrupted when the enemy appeared right in front of him. He reacted by lunging at Jim with his sword, which was parried away by the lance.</p>
<p>The golden lance seemed to have [<strong>Rejection Effect</strong>] as a passive skill. That worked in Pandora’s favor, since he needed to place distance in order to be able to use the World’s Champion ultimate skill.</p>
<p>But, a fight in the air was disadvantageous. Firm ground was more reliable, so he activated his item to teleport once more.</p>
<p>“Wait, wait, Touch Me—!" was the last thing Pandora heard before disappearing.</p>
<p>
  <em>Oh no.</em>
</p>
<p>“Ainz-sama!” he exclaimed through the shared link as soon as he was able to, “the enemy recognized— he mentioned Touch Me-sama’s name!”</p>
<p>His creator cursed the “<em>dev</em>”.</p>
<p>“Is it because he used to be a MOB? Because Touch Me-san was a World Champion…? No, could it be that he gained that knowledge by— if— if Demiurge’s theory is correct and Harry was— <em>if he was</em>—” the Overlord’s voice sounded too pained to even mention the theory out loud, before it abruptly turned steady once more. “No, he would know Touch Me-san is not really here… but—"</p>
<p>Jim suddenly appeared in front of him again. Pandora cursed, repeated the action that allowed him to place some distance between them, and escaped once more. The summons around this area weren’t fast enough to interfere if the enemy tried to—</p>
<p>“Wait damn it—!” Jim started to yell right before he disappeared.</p>
<p>“Ainz-sama?“ Pandora inquired again on the communication channel.</p>
<p>“<em>Tsk</em>. Ignore his words and continue. Once the HP bar is low enough, I’ll get to it. Things will become clear during the interrogation,” the Guild master finally ordered, which calmed Pandora’s agitated mind.</p>
<p>Right, then he needed to prepare.</p>
<p>He was now inside Aura’s fortress, which was filled with Hanzos and other high-tiered ninja and assassin Mercenary NPCs. They would be able to step in to take the hit if the enemy targeted Pandora with the brainwashing ability.</p>
<p>…still, how was he located the second time? The radar-like magic hadn’t been used again.</p>
<p>Jim appeared in front of him once more. This time, Pandora was prepared, and immediately used [<strong>World Break</strong>]; the undodgeable, ultimate World-Champion skill that reached the target by tearing through the very fabric of space and time. It was like a much superior version of the 10<sup>th</sup> tier spell [<strong>Reality Slash</strong>], despite it not being a spell.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, the man didn’t even attempt to defend. Instead of that, Jim stood still and received the attack head-on with a pained grunt, the efficiency of the attack visible in the impact to his HP. Pandora may only be able to use the skillset at 80% of its original capacity, but he had been heavily buffed and equipped to make up for it. Thus, the attack should still be as effective as if Touch Me-sama had done it.</p>
<p>Pandora didn’t notice something was amiss until he tried to step back.</p>
<p>The sword— Jim’s was strongly clutching its sharp edge, blood immediately oozing from the wound, and even when Pandora pulled with all his strength it didn’t move a single inch. He was unable to retrieve it.</p>
<p>The Hanzos and other ninja-like summons attempted to attack, but were repelled with a sudden shield bubble, created with nothing but a quick, hasty gesture with the lance, the symbols on its handle glowing and shifting.</p>
<p><em>Du Hurensohn</em>, Pandora thought wildly, slipping into German in his agitation. He couldn’t retreat and leave behind Touch Me-sama’s weapon, he needed to—</p>
<p>“Touch Me, you… no, now that I— you’re not him?” Jim muttered under his breath, just as Pandora finally managed to slide the sword out of the enemy’s hand, “but there’s no way to fake a World Champion’s armor—”</p>
<p>He delivered another [<strong>World Break</strong>], this time with enough distance between them so the weapon wouldn’t get caught again. The ultimate skill had a limit usage per day, but that was irrelevant in the major picture.</p>
<p>As expected, it pierced Jim’s protective bubble— that was one of the things that made this attack so effective, after all — and threw him through the sturdy building as if the walls had been done with papier-maché.</p>
<p>Pandora escaped once more, teleporting to the area where his creator was supposed to deliver the last blow, from a safe distance.</p>
<p>“HP is at an appropriate level now.”</p>
<p>“Excellent! Demiurge, retreat for now. Albedo, monitor Jim closely to wrap this up and— hm, I should be mindful of the twins’ status. Aura, Mare, report.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry Ainz-sama! The zerglings have caved deep enough, so we should be out of range now,” Aura chirped in.</p>
<p>“W-we still cannot leave the area though…”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry Mare, that will end soon.”</p>
<p>Everything settled, the conversation ended and Pandora was alone with his thoughts once more.</p>
<p>He inwardly chastised himself. He had given intel to the enemy by allowing it to get close— but, how had Jim known Pandora wasn’t the real World Champion? Had he—</p>
<p>Time suddenly stopped around him. Quite literally.</p>
<p>His current equipment immediately activated its passive skill, which helped him get out of the [<strong>Time Stop</strong>] effect. This caused a gap in his defense however, and the enemy immediately took advantage of that by casting another spell.</p>
<p>A dome of soft green light enclosed them both — the area ridiculously small, barely a few meters between them — before the magic turned translucid, invisible to the naked eye, and Pandora worriedly felt his communication link dissipate. More importantly though, after its activation, no matter what he tried to do Pandora couldn’t get out; and the summons that were supposed to protect him seemed unaware of his predicament.</p>
<p>“You can’t leave. No one will— <em>haah</em>— perceive your presence or communicate with you from the outside either,” Jim explained unprompted, impaling the ground with the sharp end of the lance— a cease of fire? — but the weapon still remained on hand.</p>
<p>Pandora took a second to weight his options.</p>
<p>He was, no doubt, going to be brainwashed now. What could he do then, to avoid causing too much trouble? He couldn’t kill himself, that would mean giving Touch Me-sama’s equipment to the enemy, in which case it may be better to just hurt himself enough so his creator could kill him with just a few hits. Perhaps cut off his own arms to stop himself from harming—</p>
<p>“Oh, sweet <em>Merlin.</em>” Despite everything, the phrase made him pause. There was only one person that used that expression, <em>but that couldn’t be</em>. “Are you… Pandora’s Actor?”</p>
<p>All thoughts of self-mutilation came to a halt. This man— <em>no, no, he didn’t feel like a Supreme Being at all—</em></p>
<p>“Pandora!” Jim exclaimed with a grin so wide it looked like it hurt, “you’re here?! How? I can’t believe— ah, but why are we fighting? Can you— I mean, um, do you recognize me…?”</p>
<p>Pandora took a defensive stance. He should be lashing out at the enemy — who wasn’t even on guard anymore — attacking for daring to act like— just like…</p>
<p>“Oh wait, I’m still under guise. My bad, gimme a sec,” Jim laughed in a self-depreciating manner, summoning a wooden wand from thin air and waving it over his head.</p>
<p>Pandora’s already altered heartbeat jumped as the features began to shift, now showing a very familiar visage.</p>
<p>“Better now?” Even the voice was the same.</p>
<p>Pandora swallowed. This was— this enemy was so <em>cruel</em>. There was no way he could launch an attack when he looked just like Harry-sama.</p>
<p>Was this what Albedo and the Pleiades had felt, when Pandora had greeted them in the treasury while looking like Tabula-sama? Albedo, unaware it was just Pandora, had forced herself to order her own creator’s death in order to protect Ainz-sama. The maids had been unable to follow said order, showing reserve when attacking someone with the appearance of one of the Supreme Beings.</p>
<p>Pandora silently apologized to them, from the depths of his heart.</p>
<p>“You… doppelganger,” Pandora muttered with sorrowful anger. If he had had tear ducts, he would be spotting angry tears.</p>
<p>His creator, Ainz-sama would have surely considered the possibility of Jim being nothing but a façade, a guise, once the overlord first encountered the man with the familiar lance strapped at his back. But since his conclusion was that this was an enemy, then there was no way— the Guildmaster wouldn’t make such a blunder.</p>
<p>…right?</p>
<p>“Doppel— no, no, it’s really is me, I swear!” Jim exclaimed with a pleading expression, “you can ask me anything! Come on— uh, what can I say that… um, er, oh, I know. Pandora, whenever I visited you in the treasury, I’d tilt your cap down until it covered your eyes. It’s my favorite part of your uniform, really.”</p>
<p>The man smiled encouragingly.</p>
<p>It was painful to look at.</p>
<p>Pandora wanted to see the real Supreme Being do that, direct such a bright expression at him. To tell him— to tell <em>everyone</em> how much they were missed, that he was happy to see them again. That he would be happy to go back home, to Nazarick.</p>
<p>Pandora huffed at the doppelganger, and forced his hands to stop trembling.</p>
<p>“I won’t fall for it!” he exclaimed with more certainty than what he really felt, “I know of your skillset, you can’t lie to me!”</p>
<p>The enemy could gain knowledge using his brainwashing skill, Demiurge had already confirmed this man had somehow linked the 7<sup>th</sup> guardian’s ultimate appearance to Nazarick, even if the demon assured that his special skill wouldn’t allow the man to remember their encounter.</p>
<p>Under that premise, if Harry-sama had really encountered this individual, it wasn’t impossible to think that was how Jim knew about their greeting ritual.</p>
<p>
  <em>How dare he— to taint such a warm memory!</em>
</p>
<p>Jim frowned in apparent confusion, before straightening and meeting his gaze with unbreakable resolve. Pandora felt himself rooted on the spot for a second— was it the effect of looking directly into his eyes? He would have worn something to protect him had he known.</p>
<p>For the untrained eye, it would seem like Touch Me’s head was a closed helmet, but that was only because the Supreme Being had belonged to an insectoid race. Due to his high stats, the exoskeleton was better than any helmet could be, so there had been no need to further protect it with equipment.</p>
<p> Emerald eyes continued to look searchingly at him, almost as if he were reading, and then—</p>
<p>“Oh.” The enemy gasped in realization, as if he had heard Pandora’s thoughts, “Oh Merlin, that’s— uh, ok, I guess I understand where you’re coming from,” Jim muttered sheepishly, passing a hand through untidy raven locks, unsettling them even more.</p>
<p>Pandora tried to teleport away, hoping that whatever spell imprisoning him would be time limited. He didn’t have such luck.</p>
<p>“Um, what else can I do then… my items could be attributed as ‘<em>stolen’</em> too. Crap, er, what’s my status in the Guild’s list? Shouldn’t I appear as ‘<em>active’</em> or something?”</p>
<p>Harry-sama’s name was damaged. It didn’t display an active/inactive status, nor did it show his alliance to the Guild, instead showing a row of unreadable characters that were like the ones carved in the door of his personal chambers. No one could interpret it.</p>
<p>“Crap,” Jim muttered as if Pandora had replied out loud, instead of just thinking the answer, “what gives then? Ugh, what else can I… oh, I think I’ve got it. Hey Pan, is Momonga in this world too?”</p>
<p>The question was enough to snap him out of his stillness. Pandora wouldn’t let him target his creator, Ainz-sama!</p>
<p>“Eh? He changed his name to— <em>woah!</em>” As his creator was directly threatened, Pandora forced himself to look past the fake’s familiar visage and launch an attack.</p>
<p>If Pandora had hesitated so long to fight against someone that looked like the absent Supreme Being, the same may happen to Ainz-sama or the other Guild denizens. If his creator hesitated, and the enemy took advantage of it— no, he couldn’t allow, not under any circumstances—</p>
<p>“Wait, wait, I know what we can do! I’ll take down my block, so just—”</p>
<p>
  <em>Clank! </em>
</p>
<p> “—send me a goddamn [<strong>Message</strong>]!” Jim exclaimed as he managed to move out of the way of his first attack, rolling on the ground before retaking a standing position, and then parring away Pandora’s second attempt with the recovered lance.</p>
<p>Gritting his teeth to stop himself from replying — <em>don’t fall for his tricks, ignore the appearance</em> — he started to activate “[<strong>World Br—</strong>]”</p>
<p>
  <em>Crack!</em>
</p>
<p>The attack that was supposed to be undodgeable, impossible to defend against, had been evaded. The enemy that had been in front of him just a second ago suddenly disappeared, but Pandora didn’t have time to dwell on it.</p>
<p>The gravity around him increased and he was forced to kneel, barely managing to fight against it so he wouldn’t fully collapse—</p>
<p>“<em>Tarantallegra.</em>”</p>
<p>His body spasmed, like it had wanted to move on its own accord, which was enough to make him lose the battle and fall on his side, the pressure preventing him from getting up again— or moving, either to attack or defend.</p>
<p>Jim, still looking like Harry-sama, bent down to meet his gaze, familiar emerald eyes looking pleadingly at him.</p>
<p>Pandora, against his better judgement, vacillated.</p>
<p>When sending a [<strong>Message</strong>] the spell was automatically directed to the being the sender had envisioned. It wouldn’t reach out to any fake— to any doppelganger nor brainwashed victim — since that wouldn’t fulfil the activation requirements. For example, if Ainz-sama tried to reach out to Touch Me-sama, although Pandora was currently on that set, he wouldn’t receive the spell. They hadn’t been able to contact Shalltear nor the controlled shadow-demon either, when they had been brainwashed.</p>
<p>A small spark of hope ignited in his mind. Pandora mentally cursed at his own weakness, but still couldn’t keep himself from thinking… that it was worth trying out.</p>
<p>His intent seemed to have gotten through the man somehow, because the pressure pushing him down suddenly lifted, and Jim straightened and took a few steps back to allow Pandora to stand up again.</p>
<p>Making sure the man was still in his field of vision and not making any suspicious movements, Pandora stood firmly with sword in hand, before hesitatingly raising a gloved hand to his temple.</p>
<p>“[<strong>Message</strong>]” Pandora activated, lungs constricting when he felt a connection form. All previous attempts hadn’t been able to. “Can you… is this…”</p>
<p>“I’m Harry, yes. Hi Pandora,” the man’s voice overlapped with the reply Pandora received through the [<strong>Message</strong>] spell.</p>
<p>This was— <em>he was!</em></p>
<p>“Harry-sama?!” Pandora choked out, still not dispelling the spell, still needing confirmation that—</p>
<p>“Yeah. You don’t have to add any titles though? Just Harry is fine, really.” The reply echoed as [<strong>Message</strong>] clashed with the voice of the man in front of him.</p>
<p>Pandora let out a disbelieving chortle. Harry-sama smiled and walked towards him — <em>he was here, for real!</em> — lightly tapping his armored arm as if to provide further proof of his physical presence.</p>
<p>“I’m honestly happy to see you Pandora, you have no idea how much I— <em>fucking hell</em>, that’s—” Harry-sama’s expression morphed from sincere happiness to one of pure alarm, looking somewhere past him. When Pandora turned, he couldn’t see anything—</p>
<p>The bubble around them abruptly cracked up before collapsing, which enabled him to see the way their surroundings had dramatically shifted, the Great Forest of Tob now nothing but an arid desert. He only had a second to process the change in scenery, however.</p>
<p>A wave of pain made him collapse, his HP getting dramatically lowered in a single hit, vision blurring before darkening around the edges.</p>
<p>This… this had been <em>The Ending</em> area.</p>
<p>The one they had prepared beforehand, they one they had decided to use once the HP had been sufficiently lowered, enough for Ainz-sama’s ultimate skill to be effective.</p>
<p>
  <strong>[The Goal of all Life is Death]</strong>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AUTHOR NOTE:</p>
<p>Harry was able to convince Pandora! A little bit late for Momonga though~</p>
<p>And yeah, I’ll go ahead and admit that the thing about Touch Me not wearing a helmet, and having a Super-tier spell in his arsenal is absolute bullshit, just an Author changing things to make the story move in the direction it needs to. My bad! I won’t apologize though!</p>
<p>This chapter was written a Sunday, from 6am to 9am non-stop, because the rain woke me up and then I got inspiration, so I chose to turn on the lap to write instead of trying to go back to sleep. Can’t say I regret it haha.</p>
<p>Happy new year! Hopefully this 2021 will be better than the disaster we had last year. Stay healthy.</p>
<p>See ya’ around, dEBB987.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Second Run</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Chapter 6 Second Run</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>You didn’t even last a decade on this one.</em>
</p><p>Harry huffed at Death’s mocking tone, coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. His surroundings were nothing but darkness, and he was… hmn. <em>Floating</em>, would probably be the best way to describe it.</p><p>“I’ll wake up soon enough, I managed to activate the self-recovery on the staff before passing out—”</p><p><em>You mean dying</em>.</p><p>“I said <em>passing out</em>,” Harry insisted, passing a hand over his face tiredly, “I don’t think death is the best description, considering that’s supposed to be permanent.”</p><p><em>It is.</em> Death strongly asserted. <em>You could stay for an eternity here, if you so wished</em>.</p><p>“Time is relative. An eternity or two, I’d still wake up at the exact same point I was where I died… a second for them, eons for me.”</p><p><em>And even then, you never stay to chat. </em>Death complained with a dramatic, long-suffering sigh.</p><p>“Last time I did, I couldn’t recall anything about the life I had paused and what I was doing.”</p><p>
  <em>Well, your mind is not prepared to handle eons of life. </em>
</p><p>“Something I complained about when you granted my immortal title.”</p><p>
  <em>I taught you how to keep the memories in your subconscious. Isn’t that enough?</em>
</p><p>“Has to be, considering there’s no other option,” Harry huffed lightly, which became a groan when he felt a thin, long hand patronizingly patting his head. “You’re <em>insufferable</em>.”</p><p><em>You’ll survive. </em>Pfft, he could hear the mocking practically dripping from that sentence.</p><p>“I always do. Don’t I?” Harry smiled at last, giving a reassuring pat at thin air when his surroundings started to gain light, rays coming from the edges before illuminating everything with a blinding intensity.</p><p><em>You shouldn’t survive, you should live. Life is a present, after all. </em>Was the last thing Death muttered before his senses returned to him.</p><p>Lethargically blinking his eyes open, the first thing he did was take a one-armed hold of Pandora — who was hovering over him, chanting a frenetic <em>no, no, no, no</em> — forcefully immobilizing him with an embrace because the way the doppelganger had raised his hand denoted he had been <em>a second away</em> from sending a [<strong>Message</strong>].</p><p>The last thing Harry wanted was for Momonga and the NPCs to worry, or feel guilty about this whole mess.</p><p>“I’m fine, I’m— Pan, Pandora, I swear, look at me—”</p><p>“I’m so sorry, it’s my fault, your HP was low because I—”</p><p>“I’m alive, I’m— <em>bloody</em> <em>hell</em>, we better leave.” Harry muttered when he detected the approach of what he now recognized as Momonga’s detection-specialist undead summons.</p><p>Strengthening his grip on a still-crying-and-beggingly-apologizing Pandora, he apparated away with a loud <em>Crack! </em>Going back to the one place he knew was protected and far away enough to give him some time to regain his HP, and calm Pandora down before the NPC went and caused a worried havoc among Nazarick’s denizens.</p><p>Hopefully the room he had with the dwarves would be empty. He didn’t feel like answering questions.</p><p>(x)</p><p>There were two reasons Ainz had chosen Pandora to fight alongside him.</p><p>One was the use of super-tier spells.</p><p>Under ideal circumstances, a player could learn one super-tier spell for each level after 70. Once learned, it could only be used one time per day, the number of uses increasing by one for every ten levels. Thus, a player who managed to reach level 100 in YGGDRASIL could use Super-Tier Magic at least four times a day and could have about thirty super-tier spells in their arsenal.</p><p>This applied mostly to Magic Casters though, since one needed to have reached 70 levels in total in magic-related classes (either racial or job classes) to unblock the use of super-tier magic. It was rare for players to make a build with all classes magic-oriented though, so it was common to learn less than 30 spells due to mixed, complex character builds.</p><p>Characters that specialized in physical combat, like Touch Me, weren’t supposed to be able to have any in their arsenal. To be fair, the only reason his paladin friend had been able to gain one was due to the completion of a special, time-limited event.</p><p>Nazarick’s NPCs, for sure, didn’t have any in their arsenal — except for Rubedo’s ultimate skill, and he wasn’t sure <em>that</em> counted — since it was difficult to conjure the special build that would enable an NPC to use Super-Tier magic. Ainz and his Guildmates had agreed that, even if they somehow managed to, it would be redeemed useless due to the activation time since the NPCs couldn’t use cash items to neglect it, and thus didn’t even try to give any to them.</p><p>Besides, once any member of a team casted a super-tier spell, the whole team would be penalized by being unable to cast such spells for a certain period of time — in other words, a cooldown period. This restriction was put in place to prevent Guild Wars in YGGDRASIL from being decided by who could vomit out the most super-tier spells.</p><p>In simpler words, the NPCs didn’t have use for it, and the cooldown penalty affected the players as well the NPCs… at least, that was the case back in Yggdrassil. Upon arriving to this new world however, Ainz had discovered that this restriction wasn’t in effect any longer. It had been lifted, in the same way party system elements like “no friendly fire” had changed.</p><p>Thus, having an NPC that could use such spells was dramatically useful, but the only one able to do so was Pandora’s Actor.</p><p>That important factor aside, the second reason Ainz had chosen to fight along his own NPC was that, apart from himself, the Greater Doppelganger was the best choice in terms of intelligence and adaptability. Unlike the other NPCs who obeyed Ainz's every order without question, Pandora's Actor was willing to question his orders when needed, clarifying his duties and giving suggestions whenever possible.</p><p>Thus, despite his— <em>uwah</em>… — “peculiar” personality, he was the perfect executioner for this kind of delicate tasks, since Pandora wouldn’t misunderstand his intentions, unlike others — Albedo and Demiurge coming to mind.</p><p>In that regard, since Pandora was better at understanding the extent of his creator's ways and motivations of achieving victory, even if this ended up badly the doppelganger should be able to see one's defeat not as a loss, but as a win. His creation was flexible enough that Ainz trusted him to do what he considered best for Nazarick even if the enemy were to— to…</p><p>The communication thread that linked him to Pandora was suddenly severed.</p><p>Ainz felt a pang of worry, sadness, and anger all at once.</p><p>They had prepared for battle, as best they could, but there was no way to completely nullify all risks. In the end, they had had no option other than to accept they wouldn’t be able to prepare against all odds in such a limited amount of time, and hope that improvising and drawing support from Nazarick’s proximity would be enough.</p><p>One could go on and on, analyzing the endless possibilities all day without reaching a conclusion. All Ainz could do was accept that he was compromising their safety to some degree as they took action. This was something that Ainz had learned when he fought against the brainwashed Shalltear.</p><p><em>Please take care</em>, Ainz thought pleadingly, almost like a prayer.</p><p>“Albedo, what’s Pandora’s status?”</p><p>“Still active and loyal to Nazarick. I will inform immediately if anything changes.”</p><p>“Umu, please do. What’s the enemy’s position?”</p><p>“Yes.” Albedo answered without missing a beat, double-checking with remote surveillance before confirming, “their last sighting was at <em>The Ending</em> area. The magic in effect seems to be the same as the one placed around Aura and Mare, since I’m unable to locate them.”</p><p>Isolating not only the individuals, but containing their attacks as well. And for such an extended period of time— honestly, how broken could a Raid Boss be? No wonder it had been so hated by the player’s community.</p><p>“Make the zerglings specialized in detection examine the zone underground, to delimit the affected area of that spell.”</p><p>“Yes!”</p><p>Now, what should he do to help Pandora? Could Ainz still prevent a brainwashing?</p><p>
  <em>No, we didn’t lose communication with the twins after the isolating magic was put in place. Which means that… Pandora is probably in the process of being controlled, since his status hasn’t changed to “enemy” in Albedo’s Guild list.</em>
</p><p>“Pandora’s current status.”</p><p>“Still marked as ally. The zerglings registered the zone, Jarvis reports the affected area to be around 15 ft sq.”</p><p>That was surprisingly small.</p><p>“The magic is right in <em>The Ending</em> area, correct?”</p><p>“Yes, Ainz-sama.”</p><p>Ainz hummed. Perhaps the enemy needed to stay still, or something else equally disadvantageous, while brainwashing the target, in which case Ainz may be able to interrupt it on time.</p><p>Under these circumstances, it was best to see if Super-tier magic was enough to break through the isolating spell.</p><p>He had casted [<strong>Perfect Unknowable</strong>] at the beginning of the battle, but still made sure to reinforce it before casting [<strong>Greater Teleportation</strong>], grip tightening over the Guild Weapon.</p><p>When the Guild master equipped the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown, it granted him an enhancement over his racial skills, strengthening the effects of his Despair Auras and other undead skills to the point where he was able to affect even level 100 enemies.</p><p>His magic had only started affecting Jim after equipping the guild weapon, which meant that the item provided him enough of a buff to consider him on Jim’s level. Or perhaps he only needed to be slightly superior to a Level 100 player?</p><p>Whatever the case, his ultimate skill should be able to cause an impact now, <em>to kill him</em>, since his HP bar was now visible like a normal player’s would.</p><p>
  <strong>[The Goal of all Life is Death]</strong>
</p><p>The world around him — the earth, the air, the few summons that had still been in the area — died all at once. The area around changed, the fertile forest disappearing from existence, converted into a scorched desert.</p><p>Since the enemy was strong enough to withstand resurrection magic, killing him shouldn’t cause any issues. Besides, even if Pandora had been unable to leave <em>The Ending</em> area, his NPC’s was equipped with a self-resurrecting item. He would be fine.</p><p>Momonga surveyed the area, but… he still couldn’t see anything.</p><p>“Albedo, do you see them?”</p><p>“I was able to see them for an instant, right when they received the attack,” Albedo confirmed worriedly, the sound of feathered wings flapping in the background. “But they disappeared right after.”</p><p>That didn’t sound good.</p><p>“Aura, Mare.” If the enemy had died, then the spell that was trapping them should be—</p><p>“We can move!” The twins chorus resonated. Ainz inwardly sighed with relief.</p><p>Jim had truly died then… but then, why had they disappeared again?</p><p>Did Jim use an immediate-resurrection item, like Shalltear had? And where was Pandora—</p><p>
  <em>Eh?</em>
</p><p>He was receiving another request for [<strong>Message</strong>], different from the connection he already had established with Albedo. Who was it? Everyone in Nazarick had orders to communicate with Albedo for anything— unless it was an emergency, thus they reached out directly?</p><p>“Albedo, is someone from the Tomb trying to communicate with me directly?”</p><p>“No one should be, I was very clear on the subject.” Albedo hmphed, apparently bothered by the mere idea of it. “Please reject the attempt, you won’t be able to keep both channels open at the same time, Ainz-sama.”</p><p>He hesitated for a short moment. He couldn’t help but remember how dismissing a [<strong>Message</strong>] in favor of doing other things had made him ignorant of Shalltear’s brainwashed status in the past.</p><p>He had a strong feeling this was similar.</p><p>“…Demiurge.”</p><p>“Yes, Ainz-sama!”</p><p>“Come back and protect me. Albedo, don’t stop surveillance, I will momentarily close off our network to receive the [<strong>Message</strong>].” He ordered even as he summoned high-tiered undead, so he had multiple guards to protect him.</p><p>“Wh— but— please reconsider! If this is a trap—”</p><p>“I won’t listen to their words, just identify the sender.”</p><p>“… please be careful.”</p><p>“Umu.”</p><p>Demiurge landed just at his side. The area was still suspiciously deserted.</p><p><em>There’s something I’m missing</em>. Even if Jim had teleported to another side of the battlefield, becoming invisible, the summons that could see through it should have found him already… not to mention that Albedo was surveilling while sitting down in a World Item. Nothing should be able to elude her gaze.</p><p>“Still nothing?”</p><p>“No…”</p><p>The [<strong>Message</strong>] request had yet to leave, still tingling at the back of his mind.</p><p>“I will reply now. Stay alert.” He said at last before temporarily closing off the network with Albedo, accepting the request so a new communication channel flared to life.</p><p>“Momonga, can you hear me…?”</p><p>
  <em>That voice!</em>
</p><p>“Harry?!” Ainz exclaimed with disbelief, unconsciously strengthening his grip over the Guild weapon. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Demiurge’s eyes visibly open, body tensing up.</p><p>“Oh, thank Merlin.” Harry’s voice — <em>how? And why in the middle of such a big event?! Your luck sucks Harry!</em> — sounded incredibly relieved, if albeit a little breathless. “The spell didn’t work until I directed it to ‘Ainz Ooal Gown’ instead of ‘Momonga’. I had no idea the name was a big factor.”</p><p>Ainz laughed with unbidden glee. Relief, disbelief, excitement, happiness, concern, all sort of emotions battled amongst themselves to come on top, but in the end they all were equally repressed by his emotional suppression.</p><p>Still, the nice feeling bubbling under his bones remained, as did his now much brighter humor.</p><p>“Hahaha, I didn’t either! Harry—” <em>where are you, what happened that made you lose your lance, what do you know about someone called Jim?</em> All questions seemed equally important, but in the end, he settled for, “—are you alright?”</p><p>They couldn’t afford to lose this battle, against this terrible enemy, but if Harry was dealing with his own fight, was injured or anything of the sort, Nazarick’s priority would be to help him. If Ainz had to choose between the victory against Jim and Harry’s well-being, he would pick the later in a heartbeat.</p><p>“Yeah. Happiest than I’ve been in a long time.” The words felt like a punch to the ribs, did that mean Harry wasn’t coming back? Did he also prefer the life he had constructed outside of Nazarick? “After all, I get to see you guys again.”</p><p>Ainz couldn’t help but sigh with relief. Harry really had a terrible way to phrase things.</p><p>“Same here. But Harry, right now Nazarick is—”</p><p>“Yeah, I know. Fighting against Jim.”</p><p>
  <em>How had he known?</em>
</p><p>“Yes, exactly. What can you tell us about him? Bastard’s got your lance; we need to ensure—"</p><p>“Yeeeeah, tell you what. Send me a [<strong>Message</strong>] so you know I’m— uh, really who I claim to be. We can continue to chat after that?”</p><p>Oh. Yeah right, why hadn’t he thought about double-checking that? Sentiment had gotten the best of him, hearing the familiar voice was… nothing short of a blessing, even if it wasn’t under the best circumstances.</p><p>“Very well.” Ainz forced himself to cut off the spell.</p><p>“Ainz-sama, was that…” Demiurge asked surprisingly softly, a mix of disbelief and mistrust apparent in his expression. Ainz hummed in response, two skeletal fingers coming to rest at his temple.</p><p>“I’m about to confirm it, the [<strong>Message</strong>] won’t reach if it’s not really him… but, if you see it works, then let Albedo know as well,” he instructed, impatiently waiting for some time to pass before sending a new request.</p><p>He felt positively giddy upon feeling the connection take hold. How many times had he attempted that, without success, since his arrival into this new world? Each time things had gotten out of control, when he had made terrible mistakes, countless days and nights where he would have done anything to have a friend with him, to have someone to rely on, to go through each challenge together and be able to support each other.</p><p>“…Harry?” He greeted tentatively after swallowing inexistent saliva, suddenly worried. What if—</p><p>“Most certainly. How ya’ doing?” Harry asked with a weak chuckle, but continued without pausing to hear the answer. “I know you— I mean… <em>ugh</em>, the fight is kinda over, you know? Look, it’s difficult to explain, but— er, can you stop by? Better see it with your own eyes, I guess.”</p><p>It wasn’t unusual for Harry to utterly suck at explaining things, but <em>that</em> was abysmal even by his standards.</p><p>“Harry, <em>what the heck</em>.”</p><p>In his peripheral, he could see Demiurge perk up like a child in Christmas eve, hurriedly saying something to Albedo in their shared link.</p><p>“Ugh, I know, I’m sorry, that doesn’t clarify— um… I guess you could say Jim was defeated. Fight’s over. That’s what I need you to see, actually, otherwise this is… kinda messy.”</p><p>
  <em>Uwah, that explanation was awful!</em>
</p><p>“Pfft hahaha! Harry, you’ve really not changed. That was the worst way you could have chosen to say that we won!” His friend was just below Touch-Me in terms of best builds, so Ainz didn’t doubt that the Raid Boss had been neutralized—</p><p>
  <em>Neutralized? </em>
</p><p>No, wasn’t that… No, wait, that didn’t make any sense—</p><p>“Wanna bet? I think it could have been worse if— <em>haah</em>, you’ll understand once you see me. By the way, Pandora said he’s restored communication with Albedo now, he’s speaking with her at the moment— eh? Oh, Demiurge too— and Aura and Mare? Wait— Pan! <em>Pan, don’t mention it!</em>”</p><p>“…mention what?” Ainz could vaguely hear someone dramatically sniffling.</p><p>“No buts, that’s an order— eh? Ah, I’m kinda hurt, but I don’t wanna worry—”</p><p>“You’re hurt?!”</p><p>Demiurge flinched, before demanding answers on his side as well.</p><p>“<em>Shut up</em>, isn’t Dem with you—” Harry started to hiss at him before getting distracted again. “No, Pan, tell them I’m not— what? No, don’t tell them <em>that</em>!”</p><p>“Harry, where are you?!”</p><p>“<em>Bloody hell—</em> I’m in my room with the dwarves, I teleported us here after— uh, after getting…”</p><p>He seemed unable to finish that sentence. Something in Ainz’ mind clicked.</p><p>“You teleported… along with Pandora?”</p><p>Harry seemed to know he had put the pieces together, because he sighed softly.</p><p>“It’s ok, don’t— don’t feel guilty or anything, it’s not too bad. I’m with Pan, he took Yamaiko’s form and is healing me. It’s cool, really. Just… come pay me a visit?” Harry stated softly, an attempt at reassurance.</p><p>“… where to?” Ainz confirmed, a weight dropping in his non-existent stomach.</p><p>He had checked, and then double-checked, he had done <em>everything</em> he could think of, used his extensive knowledge to be able to see through illusions or shapeshifting. He had equipped a World item.</p><p>There was no way, <em>no way</em>, that he had been mistaken, that <em>Jim was Harry.</em></p><p>But apparently, he was.</p><p>And Ainz had missed it, and he had— Nazarick had— <em>they all </em>had just attempted to <em>murder</em>—</p><p>“Ainz-sama…” Demiurge’s voice was small, like a lost child, expression one of pure horror. Whatever conversation was being held on the Floor Guardian’s side, he seemed to realize just who, exactly, they had been fighting against.</p><p>This was it. This was the mistake he wouldn’t be able to recover from. The one he had been fearing since their arrival to this new world, the one that would break the Guild from the inside out, the one that—</p><p>
  <em>Crack!</em>
</p><p>Harry was suddenly in front of him, looking pale and tired <em>but not in the brick of death</em>, along with Pandora-turned-Yamaiko, who was still fretting over Harry and doing everything he could to heal him.</p><p>The robes were the same “Jim” had been wearing.</p><p>“Why did you end our [<strong>Message</strong>]?” Harry asked him through clenched teeth, flinching when the healing magic made one of his ribs pop back into its right place. From his peripheral, he could see Demiurge flinch at the unnatural sound.</p><p>Ainz didn’t know what to say. There was no excuse, nothing to justify—</p><p><em>Clank</em>.</p><p>Harry had lightly tapped his shoulder with the blunt end of his lance.</p><p>“My magic is stronger than yours. There was no way you, or anyone, could have seen through my disguise.” Harry reassured matter-of-factly, like there was no room for discussion, green eyes drilling at Ainz before flickering towards where Demiurge was standing. “No one.”</p><p>Ainz chocked up on thin air.</p><p>“I had equipped my World item! I did—”</p><p>“—everything you could have and still found nothing.” Harry interrupted him with a steely voice, one hand raised in a request for silence. “My magic is different. Is not from Yggdrasil, you don’t know the counter to it— no one does. There was <em>nothing you could have done</em>.”</p><p>Harry stressed the last sentence, delivering another harmless tap with his lance as if to reinforce his point.</p><p>“…but how?” Demiurge whispered before Ainz could say anything, taking a hesitant step towards them, towards Harry, diamond eyes open and vulnerable in a way that Ainz had never thought possible.</p><p>The homunculus blinked tiredly, lowering the lance with a small sigh as Pandora’s healing finally ended, the opaque green glow dispersing from his figure. “I know this is hard to believe, but I’m actually—”</p><p>“SIR!”</p><p>Ainz had always imagined that a reunion with one of his long-lost friends would be filled with gleeful laughter and crushing hugs; but he couldn’t do either of those things, not after what he did. Demiurge and Pandora seemed to feel the same way, hovering nearby as if itching to approach, to make sure Harry was here for real, but the weight of their past actions immobilized them.</p><p>Jarvis didn’t seem to have that issue.</p><p>The zerg hug-tackled his creator in an embrace that looked almost painful, long boney wings enclosing around them as if to make sure Harry wouldn’t be able to step away.</p><p>“Jarvis!” Harry all but squealed, expression filled with unaltered glee as he returned the hug. “Merlin, I can’t believe I was trying to kill you!”</p><p><em>What</em>.</p><p>“And I sent my zerglings to kill you.” The overmind immediately replied, tightening his grip. “I’m sorry.”</p><p>“We didn’t know any better, don’t worry about it. For the record, I’m sorry too.” Harry stated calmly, lifting a hand as if to pat Jarvis’ shoulder, but paused upon realizing the palm was dirty with dried blood.</p><p>The zerg nodded, gave another squeeze, and finally stepped back from the hug. Harry rolled his shoulders, cleaned the dried blood with a lazy wave, and turned to face his stupefied audience.</p><p>“I didn’t really recognize any of you… I fought with the intent to kill just like you did.” He admitted in a soft voice, giving them a sad, apologetic smile. “So we’re kinda even, don’t you think?”</p><p>Ainz <em>ugh</em>-ed guiltily. Demiurge seemed to be clenching his teeth, tail waving uneasily.</p><p>That was true, he knew it was, but there was no way something like this could be forgotten— nor <em>forgiven</em>. Ainz couldn’t forgive himself, and he knew some of the NPCs wouldn’t be able to either.</p><p>This error, this inexcusable mistake, might as well be enough to make Nazarick drift apart from the inside. The NPCs wouldn’t forgive themselves, or they wouldn’t forgive <em>Ainz</em> for not realizing, not when they had previously thought their Guild Master was some kind of infallible mastermind. There was no way they wouldn’t blame him. Nothing that could—</p><p>“Ah.” Harry interrupted his musings, expression deeply concerned. “I didn’t think it would be that bad.”</p><p>
  <em>What was he talking about?</em>
</p><p>“I can read minds, under certain circumstances.” Harry admitted lightly while summoning his wooden wand, and the casual admission echoed in Ainz’ head. He was an undead, his mind was naturally protected from external forces. Harry shouldn’t be able to affect him. “If you believe it’s <em>that</em> dire, then let’s change the past, hmm?”</p><p>…was that really possible?</p><p>He wanted to ask, but the harmless-looking wand was now pointed in his direction.</p><p>A small flick, and everything went blank.</p><p>(x)</p><p>The clean-up process took a long time, but he was sure he had covered everything. After all, so long they were within his wards range, Harry could transfer his magic to several individuals at once, distance and quantity rendered irrelevant.</p><p>The battlefield was now void of undead, demons, zergs, and mercenary NPCs.</p><p>An imperio-ed Mare had restored the Great Forest of Tob to its original state and he had repaired the wooden fortress, which was apparently constructed by Aura.</p><p>After the general clean-up, he had sent everyone — including Aura’s beasts — back to the Great Tomb of Nazarick. The Guild was protected with his strongest set of wards, so it was the easiest way to modify everyone’s memories at once, to ensure they matched.</p><p>He was sure he hadn’t missed anyone. A mental command activated the imprisoning quality of the wards, ensuring no one could leave the territory until he was done with his tampering.</p><p>After the spell finished, he sighed, went through everything in his head to ensure he hadn’t missed anything, and then nodded to himself, satisfied.</p><p>They were going to have a new first-meeting. This time without killing intent or bloodshed, he bowed to himself before disappearing with a loud <em>Crack</em>! just after lifting his control over Nazarick’s residents.</p><p>Harry let a few days pass by, before going back to E-Rantel — this time as himself —and requested a meeting with the adamantite adventurer Momon.</p><p>Who, apparently, wasn’t Momonga anymore, but Pandora. <em>Why the sudden switch?</em></p><p>It was a good thing they were in a private room, that was under a set of privacy spells, when the “adventurers” met him, otherwise Pandora’s shriek of <em>HARRY-SAMA!</em> would have crumpled the adamantite’s supposedly solemn reputation irreparably.</p><p>Not like Narberal’s reaction was any better.</p><p>Now, the doppelganger was enthusiastically speaking about their encounter in a [<strong>Message</strong>] — with Albedo and Momonga, probably. Perhaps even more people? — arms moving wildly to emphasize random words, almost like he was acting them out.</p><p>And he still looked like “Momon”.</p><p>Harry snorted into his palm, coughing a bit to try to hide his amused grin. Pandora could imitate the appearance of all of his friends, right? So he could ask the doppelganger to— oh, the <em>possibilities</em>….</p><p>He let out a discrete snicker, grinning like a madman at the thought even as he motioned for the Pleiade to take a seat. She looked like she was on the verge of tears — happy tears, he hoped. Maybe he should offer a handkerchief or something— <em>woah</em>!</p><p>“HARRY! HAHAHA—” Momonga teleported right in front of him with scary accuracy, which probably was due to Pandora’s detailed description of their position, and hugged him to death while laughing like a bloody maniac. After getting over his surprise, Harry smiled so wide his cheeks felt strained, and returned the hug with an iron grip of his own.</p><p>After a short moment Momonga’s laugh abruptly cut off — which was really odd — but the overlord didn’t stop the hug, so Harry considered it was his turn to huff a short laugh.</p><p>“Oh Merlin, I can’t believe I had forgotten— no, doesn’t your voice sound different? I’m pretty sure it wasn’t like this!” Harry said what had been in his mind the last time they talked. “And— <em>ugh</em>, you weren’t this tall either! Let my feet touch the ground, you damn tree!” He demanded, giving a couple of pats at his friend’s back, which made Momonga laugh again before putting him down.</p><p>“Hahah— <em>tch</em>, stupid suppression.” Momonga muttered when his laugh got cut off again, but Harry couldn’t inquire on it since he continued. “I don’t really know either, my voice just… switched along with me, I guess? From the very first day in the Throne room, I— I just…”</p><p>The lighthearted atmosphere changed into something heavier, but Harry couldn’t really identify the feeling.</p><p>“Harry, that day, what… what happened?” the overlord asked dejectedly, shoulders dropping.</p><p>Harry sighed, meditating the question for a moment before shaking his head negatively. This wasn’t the moment to explain about the whole “I’m immortal and automatically go to another world whenever I die” tale.</p><p>“That’s a long story, and— well, I think we first need to settle down, don’t you think? Did Pandora mention—”</p><p>“Oh, right.” Momonga— or maybe he should start thinking of him as Ainz? That felt weird though — muttered distractedly, like he had forgotten his NPC was also present. “Pandora’s Actor, you insisted I should come to evaluate the situation for myself. I’m here now, so start.”</p><p>Huh, that sounded almost authoritarian. He had never heard Momonga speak like that before.</p><p>Pandora clicked his heels together and saluted — while still looking like Momon <em>pfft —</em>yelling “JA!” enthusiastically before dramatically raising both arms to the sky, and then dropping them to point at Harry’s chest. “I apologize! But I think Harry-sama is better suited to explain it!”</p><p>Even with an expressionless face, Harry got the impression that Momonga wanted to facepalm. Harry laughed freely at the scene, in a way he hadn’t in the last five years. Oh yes, it was good to be back.</p><p>“Why are you so— ugh, no, never mind. Harry, please try to explain in a way that actually makes sense.” Momonga pleaded tiredly, which made Harry humph with mock offense.</p><p>“Excuse you, it’s not my fault others can’t keep up with—”</p><p>“<em>Harry</em>.”</p><p>“…but yeah, ok.” Harry relented, before summoning his elder wand. “An image is faster than a thousand words, so let me show you.”</p><p>He waved it over his head, and kept talking even as his appearance started to shift, “so this is me when I— uh, well, you created the character ‘Momon’ to be a human warrior, adventurer of E-Rantel, right? But, you’re still Momonga— or Ainz, whatever, but you’re still you, yeah? Well, Jim is my own made-up character.”</p><p>The change in his appearance ended and with it came a long, shocked silence.</p><p>Harry had erased their memories of the battle. As far as they knew, “Jim” had just escaped Aura’s fortress a few days ago.</p><p>Momonga stared at his disguised form for a short time before cursing colorfully — Ulbert would have teased him for <em>that</em> sort of vocabulary — and covered his face with a skeletal hand.</p><p>“I didn’t— how did you—” Momonga started to say before groaning miserably, muttering phrases of “how did this happen?” and “seriously, why?” among other things, all the while looking like he was torn between demanding answers and slumping in relief.</p><p>Harry decided to free him of his misery by walking closer to pat his arm. “Yeah, I know, I have a lot of things to explain. Let’s go back home, and I’ll tell everyone?”</p><p>The mood of the room seemed to brighten at his use of the word <em>home</em>.</p><p>“Of course.” If the overlord could make expressions, Harry was sure he would be grinning from ear to ear. “But when you were in there— I mean, we didn’t... are you not… <em>hurt</em>?”</p><p>…it had been a low-level demon summon. What, exactly, did Momonga think could have wounded him?</p><p>“Nah, I’m not injured. You can check my HP if you don’t believe— <em>that was fast!</em> At least hesitate a little before stating you don’t trust me, you prat!” Harry exclaimed with mock offense when the overlord rushed to check his health, not even waiting for him to finish his sentence. The action made Momonga snort unapologetically.</p><p>“Double-checking is never bad,” his friend said instead, posture relaxing after confirming no damage had been inflicted.</p><p>“…you do realize it was a low-level summon? Have some faith.” Harry complained, keeping a close eye on Momonga’s reaction.</p><p>“That’s— yes, you’re right. Sorry, I don’t know why… I just wanted to— I felt like it needed to be done? It’s weird, I was honestly worried for a moment.” The Guild master muttered confusedly.</p><p>Better not dig too deeply into that emotion.</p><p>“It’s cool. Ready to go?”</p><p>The overlord easily let go of his line of thought —Harry’s mind-altering magic strongly encouraging him to forget — and gave enthusiastic nod. Pandora and Nabe seemed disappointed when Momonga asked them to stay behind, since apparently the adventurer team needed to leave E-Rantel in a visible manner before they could teleport back to Nazarick.</p><p>Harry promised he would save the best of his tales until after they arrived back.</p><p>All in all, their second encounter had gone much more smoothly.</p><p>(x)</p><p>(x)</p><p>(x)</p><p>EPILOGUE:</p><p>
  <em>Something’s wrong, something’s missing.</em>
</p><p>Albedo paced in her assigned room, biting her nails anxiously, black feathers ruffled messily.</p><p>She should be happy— no, <em>ecstatic</em>. She should be elated that Harry-sama had come back, that he had told them of his experience in this new world, learning for the past five years.</p><p> She would be, if not for the wrinkled note she had in a tight grasp.</p><p>One that had her own handwriting.</p><p> One that told her not to forget the unforgivable.</p><p>Unknown to her, a few days ago, when she noticed that she wasn’t able to leave the Tomb, when Ainz-sama and everyone that had been fighting outside came back much too unresponsive, with unfocused gaze, <em>acting like puppets</em>, Albedo had had an inkling that she needed to write things down, <em>fast</em>.</p><p>She unwrinkled the note and read it for the thousandth time.</p><p>It wasn’t possible, Nazarick would never commit such treason. Nor would everyone simply <em>forget</em>. Her subtle inquiries were always met with clueless expressions…</p><p>Except for Demiurge.</p><p>When she asked him, the demon had tensed up, lips thinning as if to prevent any words from slipping out. He was silent for a very long time, deep in thought.</p><p>“For some reason… the number of summoned demons of the 7<sup>th</sup> floor has diminished.” He whispered, almost like he didn’t actually want to think about it; didn’t want to voice that particular oddity.</p><p>Albedo quickly discovered that the same had happened with the undead summons and the zerglings.</p><p>“What does it matter? They replenish on their own.” Shalltear had said carelessly while filing her nails, not even bothering to look up at her.</p><p>“I feel like it’s not worth looking into.” Jarvis had stated, throwing her an oddly knowing look.</p><p>“Ah… so I slipped.” Harry-sama said when— <em>what? </em> “Let me fix that little detail, I’m sorry I troubled you.”</p><p>…</p><p><em>He was back, he was back, Harry-sama was back!</em> Albedo chanted inwardly in her mind, rolling over her bed while hugging a body-sized pillow, her excited squeal muffled in the fabric.</p><p>This was the happiest she’s ever been; she didn’t understand why Demiurge was so tense during the welcoming ceremony.</p><p>And his odd line of questioning— <em>pure nonsense.</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>AUTHOR NOTE:</p><p>I had half of this chapter done since January, but was struggling with the ending. A bit bittersweet for poor Demi… the only one that knows something’s off, but instinct keeps him from investigating too deeply. The novels reflect him as someone that admires, fears, and respects Ainz for his “unreachable intellect” and superiority to his own strategic mind. I believe this would cause him to feel something similar to that, but a lot more strongly, towards Harry.</p><p>Something’s off and no one notices, but if it’s the Superior Beings wish then he shouldn’t go against it… but it’s still off. Can he truly move on without knowing? *Dramatic music in the background* You’re free to imagine what would come of that.</p><p>Either way, sorry for the wait! I moved to another job role and my free time vanished… that along with writer’s block. Not a good combination.</p><p>At last, I’m happy to mark this short work as completed~ My second HP X Overlord fic that’s finalized.</p><p>See ya’ around~ dEBB987</p>
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